Molly's Flat - December 17, 2006
"ALBUS! ALBUS!" Molly screamed through the floo the moment she got home. The woman was absolutely furious.
Ginny had run to her room screaming and crying. Ron also went to his room, but it was mostly to get away from his mums yelling. He was already planning how he was going to get revenge on Harr… Hadrian for treating his little sister like that, and how to make the twins pay. This might be how they could get the twins out of the school. Ron hated having the twins in the school as staff.
Albus stepped through the floo only after he had downed a headache potion since he knew he was going to need one.
"What has happened Molly?" Albus looked to the woman.
"That… That boy." Molly was so angry she was actually having trouble forming words, which may have been a first for her. "I invited him to visit us and he was just so…" Molly let out a little scream of rage.
Albus really didn't want to hear this. He knew Molly must have done something stupid. "What happened?"
"HE SAID HE HAD A MARRIAGE CONTRACT WITH MY BROTHERS!" Ginny screamed, coming back in the room, her face blotchy and tearstained.
"I am aware." Albus got ready for the yelling.
"WHAT!" Both Molly and Ginny screamed. Ron stepped out of his room to watch the show, but made sure not to draw any attention to himself.
"It was part of their apprenticeship contracts. They needed to have a marriage contract with the boy to work at the school." Albus wished Molly had just stayed away from the boy.
"THEY'RE STILL DATING!" Ginny screamed.
"Yes, so long as they don't flaunt their relationship they are allowed to be together since they have the contract. I have been trying to find a way to break it, but it is an extremely well made contract." Albus was more than a little irritated at just how strong the contract was. He had been going over it line by line for weeks trying to find something he could use.
All of a sudden Ron remembered something Hadrian had said. "He said they were soul mates. What does that mean?"
Both adults turned to him and stared open mouthed for a second. Molly and Ginny had both missed that in their anger.
"NO! HE IS MY SOUL MATE, NOT THEIRS. THEY TRICKED HIM, I KNOW THEY DID!" Ginny was furious.
Albus started to think of the implications of a soul bond. If it were true it would explain why he was having such a hard time separating them. "If they marry, they will be completely inseparable. This contract needs to be broken.
"They can't have a marriage contract." Molly was even angrier now. "I never signed any contract for them, so it's invalid. That's what Arthur used when he got rid of Ginny's."
"WHAT?" Ginny screamed in pure fury, staring at her mum. "DADDY DESTROYED OUR CONTRACT! He did it for them didn't he. He just wanted to make it so those husband stealers could take what is mine from me. How could he be so mean. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!"
Ginny broke down sobbing. Falling to the floor she started flailing her arms and legs like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
"Ginny sweetie." Molly tried to calm the girl, but she wasn't listening. "It's going to be ok. I promise. Mummy will make sure they don't get married and you get Harry. I will go to Gringotts and cancel the contract since it's not valid."
"It won't work Molly." Albus chose to completely ignore the 15 year old that was behaving like a toddler. "The twins are of age, so they didn't need you to sign off on anything."
"I WON'T ALLOW IT!" Molly screamed.
"You can't stop it. Molly, you need to stop this." Albus waved to a still flailing Ginny. "I have had enough of this. You can't keep having these confrontations with James and Severus. We need them to be willing to work with us, and they aren't going to if you carry on like this.
You can't keep letting the children get away with behaving like this. Can you imagine what people would say if they saw you and your daughter behaving like this? If you will excuse me, I have to go and try and clean up this latest mess."
Albus turned and flooed away, not wanting to spend a moment more with them. No one could ever know that girl was in any way connected to him. He was going to need to find some way to hide that. Even though he had blocked molly from being able to say he was the father years ago when she had been fighting with Arthur he knew Molly was going to try and find some way around it eventually, and he couldn't have that.
Molly glared at the floo for a moment before she turned back to her daughter. "Ginny sweetie, you need to stop this."
Ginny just kept screaming as Ron once again slipped into his room. He didn't want to be around when Ginny was having a fit, he knew she would somehow try and lay the blame on him.
"Ginny, please baby." Molly tried to coax the girl up, but it was no use.
Getting frustrated Molly saw no other option and cast a silencing spell on the girl and went to start working on her plan. She wasn't going to allow those two ungrateful brats to take her Ginny's husband.
Ginny carried on for a few more minutes, until she noticed she wasn't making any sound. Sitting up she was furious to see that no one was around to show her the sympathy she deserved. In a fit of rage she stomped to her room and slammed the door.
In his room, Ron sighed as he heard his sisters door slam. He hated having to deal with Ginny's fits. But, in this instance he was conflicted.
He thought Ginny was acting like an idiot screaming like that, but he also agreed with her. Harr.. Hadrian couldn't marry the twins. That wasn't what a hero was supposed to do. He was supposed to become an auror, marry Ginny, and be his best friend and partner.
But that brought up the issue that Ron didn't want to be an auror any more. He wanted to make all those snakes pay for being dark, but he didn't want to have to do the extra work it would require. He wished he could just become an auror without having to do all the extra work, but he didn't think it was possible.
Despite what people thought, Ron wasn't an idiot. He had seen enough over the years to see that Dumbledore was no longer the top dog. Ron had grown up hearing about the mans greatness, but he was beginning to think the man was just too old. He needed to find someone better to attach himself to make sure he came out on top.
And the best person for that was Harr… Hadrian. The boy was famous, rich, and powerful. If Ron could just get closer to him he would be set for life. No one would deny any friend of Hadrians anything.
The only problem was that he still really didn't like the boy. Hadrian was just not the kind of person he wanted to spend time with, he always had his nose in a book. Sure, he played quidditch, but he was on the wrong team.
Then there was the people he hung around with. He spent so much time with a Malfoy. Ron shivered just at the idea of willingly spending any time with the blond ponce. A hero should have better friends, like him, not some dark snake Death Eater.
Then there was the way he had thrown his sister away. He might not always like Ginny, but she was his sister, and no one got to treat his sister like that. Ron couldn't believe that Fred and George were being so mean to Ginny. They didn't deserve to be famous, he and Ginny did.
Sitting at the little desk in his room, Ron pulled out quill and parchment and started working on a list of all the things he could do to make Harr… Hadrian leave the twins, get together with Ginny, and become his best friend.
Peverell Manor
Hadrian was still angry by the time he arrived home. He couldn't believe that those idiots had tried something like that. He was just so angry. He hated being treated like that, in both this life and the last.
It just brought up all the memories of what Ginny and the others did. The way they treated him, how they drugged him, how they even tried to kill him, multiple times.
Over the past few years he had managed to not hold that against them, but this just pushed him too far. He would never, ever, marry that girl. And he certainly wasn't going to let anyone believe that he would.
Seeing the anger on Hadrians face, James sent the girls out to play in the garden and then went to the floo. Since there were still students at the school members of the staff needed to spend a certain amount of time there during the holidays.
Severus and Sirius were planning on coming home in a few hours, but James knew they needed them now, Hadrian needed family. With Hadrian being as powerful as he was there was always a risk that his magic would manifest, and then they would be in real trouble. He was also going to see about getting Fred and George to come as well.
Fred and George were planning on going home in the evenings, but they still had a few hours of lessons with their masters scheduled throughout the holidays. James knew that the soul bond between the three would give Hadrian something to hold onto that might tether his anger and keep his magic from exploding.
When the four arrived a few minutes later, they all went directly to where Hadrian was pacing in one of the sitting rooms. Fred and George immediately went and enveloped Hadrian in their arms. Using their proximity and magic, they soothed him.
"What happened?" The twins demanded as one, looking at James. Their eyes glowing with their power.
"Ginny and Molly, mostly." James sighed. "They tried to set something up at the platform. I cast a privacy and silencing ward to keep it quiet, so we don't need to worry about it being in the paper.
Molly tried to get Hadrian to go and visit her over the holidays. He, of course said no and told them just why he wouldn't be going there, ever. Then, Ginny announced that she and Hadrian had a marriage contract." Hadrian growled slightly at that point, causing the twins to tighten their hold as they did the same."
"And then Hadrian told them about the destruction of that illegal contract." Remus carried on telling them since he had also been there with his daughters to meet Hadrian. "Ginny and Granger started talking about how they would just make a new contract. Hadrian laughed it off and explained why they would fail."
"So I told them about our contract." Hadrian muttered into Georges chest. "I also may have told them you were my soul mates. And that just set Ginny off. That was when dad interrupted and they got me out of there. I was just so angry that they would try something like that. Granger even mentioned about trying to use a contract to keep us apart."
"And I doubt having them all attacking your relationship helped matters." James smiled as he saw Hadrian calming down, and he felt as the magic that had been building released.
"I was just so angry, I didn't mean to say that much." Hadrian was slightly embarrassed by his outburst. Glancing up, he looked to see if the twins were upset by what he had told the others.
Seeing the look George correctly guessed what it was about. "Hadrian, Freddy and I will never be upset by you telling people you are our soul mate. We love you. If you want, we can take a full front page ad out in both The Prophet and Seer to announce it. Then everyone would know that you are ours and they don't stand a chance."
Hadrian laughed. He was happy the twins loved him like they did.
"I just don't understand." Hadrian muttered as he calmed.
"What?" All the adults asked as one.
"It's just… I remember what they were like last time… They were different." Hadrian moved himself and the twins to one of the couches. "Yes, they were manipulative, and they were using me, but they were different."
"Can you explain?" Severus thought he might know, but wanted to get a better picture.
"Well… Ron was childish and got jealous easy, but even when he learned I could talk to snakes he stuck by me. I know he was most likely forced to, but this version never would have been able to hide his revulsion. He was also doing better in school and even did pretty good on his OWLs.
Granger, yes, she was a know it all, but not like this. She didn't argue with the teachers all the time, and pretty much always avoided detention. Ginny was a lot like she is now, but far less pushy. I know she had a massive crush on me for the first few years and would follow me around, but then she started to see others and left me alone for the most part until 6th year.
And then there's Molly. She never would have let them behave like this. If they had made such a scene Molly would have had them de-gnomeing the garden for the entire summer. She never seemed to waste money on frivolous things either, at least, not until after I learned the truth about them."
Hadrian really was struggling to reconcile the differences.
"I think they're different, because of the things we changed. You need to remember, even if Albus was the one who arranged or monitored your yearly tests, they still took risks." Severus said thoughtfully. "Despite everything, you four all faced near death experiences by the age of 11. Ginny with the diary and the rest of you with that troll and everything else that happened.
Something like that would change a childs perspective on the world. And when you take into account how many times it happened, of course they were more grown up.
For the thing with Ron's grades, you would have wanted to spend at least some time studying since we know from your journals you didn't want to fail, so he most likely would have gone with you. Plus the classes would have been fewer and easier since the curriculum wouldn't have been updated in nearly 50 years.
The same can be said for Ms. Granger. The new rules and grading scheme hadn't been there, so she would have been able to get away with writing extra long assignments, and Dumbledore probably would have even arranged for her to get extra credit for doing so. Plus, keeping up with you and Ron would have forced her to relax her rule loving, even if only a little.
Ginny… She would have been more standoffish because of what happened in her first year. Also, she would have been confident since there was that marriage contract still in place. She would have believed she would get you in the end. And since you and Ron were friends she was able to spend more time around you without you really noticing.
And Molly. Molly was still with Arthur so she would have had to keep up appearances. She couldn't have gotten the two extravagant gifts, because people would question it, so she didn't spoil them the way she did this time. She also had to stick to a budget which would have forced her to be more realistic in what a child should have. Her life was going to her plan that time, but now it isn't. Arthur now knows the truth and has other children, and that would make her furious.
A lot of things have changed, mostly in a good way because of what we all have done. But for some, they didn't have the defining moments that forced them to adapt and work hard to survive."
"I guess, it's just hard. They're different, but they're not." Hadrian agreed.
"So am I." Severus smirked. "I'm still the dungeon bat, but less mean about it. Or, you like that about me this time around."
"I much prefer you like this. You're my papa." Hadrian gave him a grin, his mood completely gone now. Returning to his feeling of embarrassment, Hadrian curled into the twins. "Sorry… For freaking out like that. I was just so sick of them."
"It's fine. I was actually expecting it to happen years ago." James smiled. "You have put up with them for years, no one blames you for having a hard time right now."
The four who had come home from school just decided to stay. They would finish up what they were working on the next day.
Being together was more important to them right now, so they all went out to the garden to join the girls in making a snowman army.
Molly's Flat - January 3, 2007
As the full moon rose over the town of Hogsmeade, Ginevra Molly Weasley was ready. She was not going to let the man who called himself her father destroy her life anymore.
Her mum had explained to her that her dad had been able to cancel the marriage contract since he was her dad and he hadn't signed, and that he had said he would never sign another contract for any of his kids. Ginny knew from everything she looked into over the past week and a half, if he wasn't her father, they wouldn't need his signature on her contract anymore.
So that was what she was going to do, she was going to stop him from being her father.
Once she had come up with the idea, Ginny had snuck into her mum's room and stolen a book that her mum kept hidden under the floor boards in her closet. She had seen it once and asked about it, all her mum would tell her was that it had once belonged to her great aunt and that it held magics she was still too young to understand.
She had been sure it would hold what she wanted, and it had. Near the back of the book she found a ritual that would allow her to disavow her father and strip any legal claim he had to her. She didn't fully understand it all since the book was old and worn, and written in olde english, but it gave her what she wanted so she didn't care about the rest.
Since finding the ritual Ginny had been secretly gathering things. Including buying some ingredients from the guy called Dung who managed the pub connected to the restaurant. Now she had everything set.
Her mum and Ron were both fast asleep as Ginny started the ritual. Combining the different ingredients with a few drops of her blood, Ginny called upon magic. The spell was in some old language she didn't understand, but she had sounded everything out and was sure she got it right. Taking the potion, she started drawing the runes in the book on her bare skin. Finishing the ritual she slashed her palm with one of her mums silver potion daggers and cast out the blood of Arthur Septimus Weasley.
Ginny felt the magic build, but then her blood began to boil as she screamed. Finally, a few seconds later, she mercifully passed out.
The Burrow
Arthur Weasley suddenly sat up in the middle of the night as he felt a pain in his chest. It was like he had just lost something that he had once had. Silently slipping from his bed he checked the house.
He knew Fred and George were staying over with Hadrian, so their room was empty. Looking around he was a little startled to realize that there was only two bedrooms in use. His room he shared with his husbands, and the room Nicole and Leo were using.
Going over to their door, he peaked in to see the 2 two year olds were still safely tucked in their cots, fast asleep. He just stood and watched them for a few moments waiting for whatever it was that had woken him to pass, but it didn't.
Deciding there was nothing he could do about it right now, he went back to bed, maybe he would figure it out in the morning.
Molly's Flat
Molly woke up and was out of bed in an instant as she heard her daughter scream. Her fear grew as before she even reached the door the screaming stopped.
Rushing into the room, Molly saw Ginny lying in the middle of a ritual circle. Runes drawn across her arms and one on her forehead.
"Mum?" Turning Molly saw a confused and sleepy Ron in the doorway, fearfully looking at her.
"Sweet heart, I need you to go get me my healing potions from the kitchen cabinet." Molly said as she summoned a blanket to wrap her daughter in before moving her to her bed.
As she set Ginny down on the bed, her toe hit a book. She froze for a second as she looked down and saw her great aunts ritual book. Quickly marking the page Ginny had had open, she shut the book so Ron wouldn't see it.
Ron came back in and handed her the potions, but neither of them knew what Ginny needed. Molly had always been able to treat her babies herself, but she had never had to deal with something like this. She needed help.
"Ron, stay here and watch your sister, I'm going to go get help."
Rushing from the room, Molly ran to the floo and left.
Headmaster's Private Quarters
"ALBUS! ALBUS!" Molly shrieked as she arrived in the mans rooms.
In his bed, Albus woke ready to kill. Oh how he hated that woman. Getting up, he pulled on his dressing gown and grabbed his wand, he was going to curse her into the next millennium.
"Albus, there's something wrong with Ginny. She just started screaming and now I can't get her to wake up, she need's help." Molly sobbed as soon as she saw the man.
Albus's first instinct was to think, 'so what?', but he knew he couldn't say it.
"Then take her to St. Mungo's Molly."
"I can't… She…" Molly started to fidget.
"She what Molly?" Albus did not have the patience for this right now.
"I don't know. I found her on the floor in a ritual circle. She had my Great Aunt Madeline's book. I can't take her to the hospital, what if they try and say she did something bad." Molly didn't want anyone to know about that book, or what was in it. She also really didn't want anyone to know about whatever it was that Ginny had done.
"YOU LET HER HAVE THAT BOOK!" Albus thundered. Molly might like to pretend that her great aunt just had bad luck in love, but Albus knew the woman had been widowed so often because she killed her husbands using ancient rituals. The woman had been killed by her own step daughter after she had killed the girls father.
"I didn't let her." Molly defended herself. "I had it hidden under the floorboards in my closet. I don't know how she found it or why she took it."
"You go back and cover the circle with a rug or something, I will need to be able to examine it to know what the foolish girl did." Albus couldn't let any of this get out. "I will get Poppy and be there in a few minutes. We will just say she had some kind of magical outburst."
Molly didn't even respond before running back to the floo and going to her baby girl.
Albus was not pleased as he started to make the arrangements to cover this up.
Molly's Flat
By the time Albus and Poppy arrived Molly had conjured a large fluffy pink rug to cover the circle and was sitting next to her daughters bed on one of the kitchen chairs. Ron was standing at the end of the bed trying to figure out what was different about his sister.
"Everyone out." Poppy ordered as she went to her patient. It had been a long time since she had gotten to properly treat one of her patients since the school board had interfered with her ward, but she was still as strict as ever.
"I'm not leaving her." Molly refused to move and just glared at her.
"You called me here to help, so you will get out of my way so I can help." Poppy wasn't going to back down. "Don't you forget that I treated you for years Molly, and I personally delivered this girl. Now, you will do as I say so I can do my job or so help me I will make you."
Molly went to argue back, but Albus pulled her away and directed her and Ron out of the room.
"Mum, what's going on?" Ron was confused.
"Your sister had some sort of magical outburst sweetie, it's going to be just fine. Why don't you go and get some more sleep, we'll talk about it in the morning." Molly hugged her son before ushering him to his room.
Ron knew he was being lied to. He had seen the circle on the floor before his mum had come back and hid it. He knew Ginny had done something, he just didn't know what. Deciding it would be better to think about it after a full nights sleep, he did as told and went to bed.
Twenty minutes later Poppy left Ginny's room.
"Poppy?" Molly questioned as she finally stopped fiddling with the tea service she had been setting out since she had been forced out of the room.
"She will be fine in a few days, but things are going to be changing for that girl. This was no magical outburst and we all know it." She gave the two adults a stern look. "I recognize the signs of a ritual just as much as the next healer."
"Do you know what she did?" Albus questioned, ready to obliviate the woman if need be, it wasn't like it would be the first time.
"I don't know why she did it, but that girl seems to have disowned herself by blood and by magic from the Weasley family." Poppy told them.
"WHAT?" Both adults were shocked.
"Yup. Darn near drained her core in the process too. Her body has undergone a complete purge of all foreign magics. She's as fresh as a newborn baby. So you're going to need to watch. Foolish girl has completely wiped away her magical immune system, which means she's susceptible to all the magical illnesses babies are. We're going to have to give her all of her potions again.
I wouldn't recommend letting her out of her room for the next few days. Her system won't be able to handle the change in magic levels." Poppy packed up her healer kit. "I will arrange for the immunization potions, but it's going to take a few months to redo them all."
"What about school?" Molly didn't want Ginny to miss school.
"It should be ok, but I will be needing to see her at least once a week. We will need to set up a place outside the hospital wing as I'm assuming you don't want those nosy people I was forced to allow on my ward to know about this." Poppy said.
"I will make the arrangements." Albus assured, trying to figure out why the girl would do something so foolish.
"Oh." Poppy stopped for a second and pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Molly. "This is lineage paper. Put three drops of her blood on the page to determine her new name."
"New name?" Molly was stunned at that.
"Yes, new name." Poppy huffed. "She is no longer a Weasley, so she can't keep using that name or she could get in trouble magically. Headmaster, let me know where you set things up for me and I will give you the schedule of when I will need to see Ms… Ginny."
"Thank you for your assistance Poppy." Albus waited until the woman was gone before rounding on Molly. "What has that stupid girl done?"
Molly couldn't think of an answer. Instead, she just took the paper and went into her daughters room. Looking at the girl now, she could see the differences in her.
Her once deep, thick, red hair had lightened and thinned, leaving her with bright, nearly carrot orange, hair. Her skin had paled to a pearly white which allowed her freckles to stand out more. Molly also thought her eyes had tipped down slightly and the edge and her nose had thinned and lengthen slightly to a pointed tip.
Ginny was not going to like these changes, and Molly knew it. The only changes that the girl might like is that her frame had also thinned from the looks of things. Even covered in the blanket, it was obvious that both of her shoulders and hips had narrowed.
With a quick cutting hex to Ginny's finger, followed by a healing charm, Molly put the blood on the parchment.
Name: Ginevra Molly 'Ginny' Prewett
Father: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Mother: Margret Lucretia 'Molly' Diggle
Albus let out a silent sigh of relief. Since he had never formally recognized Ginny as his daughter the girl wasn't given his last name. That was something he had been worrying about. He couldn't let anyone know he was connected to such a foolish girl.
"What do we do?" Molly questioned as she looked at the paper.
"There is nothing we can do." Albus sighed, he wanted to go back to bed. "She is no longer a Weasley, and we can't undo that since she did a ritual purge. Her magic will never again accept the Weasley family magics.
We will just say that Ginny has decided to distance herself from Arthur and take your maiden name since she didn't like how he was treating you. You will need to inform her of that once she get's up. Now, I must get back to my bed, I have an early morning meeting scheduled.
Albus left the room, but Molly never acknowledged him. Instead, she just kept staring at her daughter trying to understand why she had done this to herself.
January 4, 2007
Ginny finally woke up just after dawn. She couldn't remember what had really happened, just that she had been doing a ritual and that there had been pain. Looking around, she saw her mum sleeping in the chair next to her bed.
"Mum." Ginny poked her.
"Ginny?" Molly felt tears in her eyes to see her daughter awake. "It's so good to see you awake baby. You had your brother and I so worried."
Before anything could happen there was a knocking on the door. Getting up to answer the persistent knocker, Molly was surprised to see an agitated Arthur.
"Arthur?" Molly allowed the man in.
"What did you do?" Arthur demanded.
"What do you mean?" Molly didn't understand.
"Something woke me up last night, but I couldn't figure out what it was, it just felt like loss. It took me all night to figure it out, but I did. Ginny." Arthur was close to tears as he could no longer feel his daughters magic.
"You can't control me anymore." Ginny smirked nastily at her father from where she stood propped up against the door frame as she was still too weak to stand on her own.
"Ginny, sweetie, you need to go back to bed, you aren't well enough to be up yet." Molly rushed to her daughter.
"Ginny?" Arthur was shocked to see the changes in the girl. "Why would you do this?"
"Mum said I couldn't have a marriage contract with Harry because you wouldn't sign off on it and we needed your signature since you were my father. Well, now you're not my father. So mum can make me the contract I deserve and I can get my husband back from those idiots that used to be my brothers."
Arthur felt his heart shatter at that. "You did this for that. Ginny, that isn't how marriage contracts work. Your mum still can't make you any contract you want. Molly what have you been telling the girl?"
Molly was stunned. She didn't know what to do. She had blamed Arthur for the lack of contract so her baby wouldn't blame her. And now the girl had done this.
"Arthur, I'm sure we can work this out." Molly turned to him to see he was crying.
"There's nothing to work out Molly. Your lies have cost me my daughter. She will never be a Weasley again, just look at her. I… I can't do this. I… I need…." Arthur turned and left. He couldn't stand to look at the child he had loved since the moment she had been placed in his arms all those years ago.
She wasn't his anymore.
The Burrow
Fabian and Gideon were sitting at the kitchen table in confusion. Arthur had gotten up a little while ago and all but run from the house like he was being chased by a dragon. Now they were just trying to figure out what had happened as they watched Nicole and Leo eat their breakfast.
They heard the pop of apperition and Arthur stumbled into the house, tears streaming down his face as he collapsed into his chair and sobbed.
"Love?" "Sweet heart? What happened?" The twins asked at the same time.
Seeing their father so upset both two year olds moved over to him. Nicole trying to wipe away the tears like he often did for her when she was upset. But this just made him cry harder.
Grabbing both children he cuddled them close and let the pain take him.
When Arthur regained focus he still had both kids in his arms. Neither really cared as their dads had moved their food down the table to where they were so they were happily eating as their dad cried on them. Percy, Fred, and George, were also all there with large mugs of tea.
Fabian and Gideon had called for them, knowing that something was seriously wrong. They were all just waiting to know what happened.
"Artie?" Fabian and Gideon questioned as they noticed the lull in the sobs.
"Don't call me Artie." Arthur muttered in a rough voice.
"What happened love?" Fabian questioned, moving closer in case he started to cry.
But Arthur was beyond tears now. "Ginny… Last night she…" Taking a deep breath, Arthur plowed forward. "Last night Ginny disowned herself from the Weasley family. She's not my daughter anymore."
As one his husbands and three sons converged on him. None bothering to ask questions. That wasn't important right now. All that mattered was being there for their husband/dad.
Hogwarts, Great Hall - January 8, 2007
The morning after the students returned from break the biggest piece of gossip wasn't about any attack, no, it was about the change Ginny Prewett, formerly Weasley, had undergone. The girl herself had been saying that she had chosen to use her mums maiden name because of how her former father was treating her mum, but many questioned that.
Between Molly Diggle and Arthur Weasley there wasn't any competition and pretty much all the students knew it. Arthur was kind and giving, while Molly was a shrew. Most had had to hear all the womans howlers over the years. She even still sent them to the Weasley twins about their apprenticeship and how she felt they were wasting their lives and needed to be nicer to her babies.
Albus was less than pleased. He didn't want people talking about it, and he was ready to strangle the girl for continuously drawing attention to herself. Didn't she understand, she had been disowned, whether she did it herself or not, it was seen as a mark of dishonour.
He had seen the looks the children from the old pureblood families had exchanged. The girl was just making it harder for herself to ever be accepted, and he needed her to be accepted.
But that was just one issue. If Ron had heard correctly, and Hadrian and the twins were soul mates, his task of separating them just got that much harder. No soul mate would ever willingly leave their other half.
Albus knew he needed to think of something new. As far as he could tell, he would never be able to get Hadrian to marry Ginny, and that wasn't good. Without Ginny, he wouldn't be able to control the boy. Unless…
If he could get either of the twins on his side, then he might be able to gain control. He could use one, or both of them, to control the boy.
He would just need to be careful how he worded things. Soul mates would never willingly endanger one another, so he would have to make it seem like he was controlling the boy for his own good, which he basically was. The greater good was for everyones own good.
Sitting at the Gryffindor table Ginny was watching everyone to see their reactions to different things. Because she had never learned proper pureblood manners, she wasn't sure about how to ensure she got the right reactions from her classmates.
Something that most people missed was the effect that family magics had on a person. The magics could actually push people in the direction that it wanted. The Weasley family magics had always been focused on family. That meant that it encouraged Ginny to be loyal to her family. But, since she was closer to her mother, she followed her mum more than her dad. Now that she wasn't a Weasley, she was no longer being encouraged to be loyal to her family, she had stopped caring the effect her actions had on others.
Despite never being formally recognized by her birth father, she was still effected by the Dumbledore family magics. This was encouraging her to seek positions of power.
Now, Ginny's mind was focused on how to gain power, and that meant she needed powerful allies. She just needed to figure out how to get them.
Looking back over the last few years Ginny had been forced to realize that she hadn't done herself any good. She needed to start getting in good with certain people. There were many students that would one day hold their family titles and monies, and those made them useful for her. She just needed to get them on her side.
Originally, Ginny had wanted Hadrian to be her husband because she had loved the idea of having a family with him, now when she saw him she saw him as a path to power. Hadrian Potter was the most influential child of their generation.
Now, rather than wanting to be his wife just to be his wife, she wanted it for the power.
Unused Classroom - January 13, 2007
Hermione was a little confused as she joined Ron in an unused classroom on the ground floor. There was nothing of interest in the room as far as she could tell.
"Ron, what's this about?"
"We need to talk." Ron said in a surprisingly serious voice.
"Ok." Hermione's tone showed she was still confused.
"Have you noticed the changes in Ginny?" Ron questioned.
"Well… Yeah. She actually seems less flighty and more focused on the things that actually matter, why?" Hermione had seen the changes in the girl and actually thought they were good.
"I heard my mum and Poppy talking after she did that ritual. According to them she purged her system. And, that got me thinking, could there have been something done to make Ginny act the way she was.
Think about it… We have all been forced to take those mind healer potions. How do we know that they were what we were told?" Ron questioned, seeing the growing horror on Hermione's face.
"You think we've been potioned and spelled?" Hermione didn't want to think something like that could happen to her. But, as she thought about it, it made more sense. Hermione had always been the best in her school, now she was worried that she was being held back just so she wouldn't out perform the purebloods in the school. Hermione had managed to get out of her mind healer appointments the year before when she had finally started to follow instructions.
"I think it's a possibility just from seeing the changes in Ginny." Ron nodded.
"What do we do?" Hermione questioned, she actually had no idea what to do in this situation.
"I talked to Dung, he runs the pub. I got some potions." Ron pulled out four potions vials he had traded for. "From what he explained, if we put a drop of blood into the green potion it will let us know if our minds have been altered. It will go red if we have spells on us, and yellow if there are potions, orange if we have both.
The grey potion is a purging potion which will get rid of any foreign magics in our systems. But, he did warn me it would hurt if there is anything. So, we might need to silence the room if we use them."
"I can do that if we need to. Let's check it out first." Hermione held out her hand for the green potion.
The two took turns cutting their fingers and adding the drop of blood in their vials. Ron wasn't surprised to see his potion turn red. He had assumed that there would be at least something.
Hermione was horrified as her potion went orange. She forgot to take into account the karma potion that she was still taking would also register as being in her system. Her mind was just too worked up about the idea that someone had tried to control her. It never occurred to her that she had done the same to her own parents.
"Can you put up the silencing spells?" Ron asked as he picked up the grey purging potion. "We should do this one at a time just in case. I'll go first since mine should be shorter since I only have spells and will recover quicker. Then I can watch over you when you do your purge."
Hermione nodded and put up the spells. Ron laid down on the floor and drank the potion. He had seen how Ginny had collapsed and didn't want to fall on a stone floor.
Less than a minute after he drank the potion the pain started. Ron couldn't help but scream slightly as his brain felt like it was on fire. It took a few minutes, but eventually the pain stopped and Ron was able to regain focus.
"Are you ok?" Hermione questioned fearfully.
"Yeah, I think so." Ron sat up and looked around. "Your turn."
Hermione laid down where Ron had been, taking the potion in one big swallow. Like it had been with Ron, the pain started quickly. Hermione started to scream and thrash as the compulsion spells were ripped away and her muscles shook as the potions were forced out of her body.
It took almost 10 minutes before the pain stopped and left Hermione sweating and panting in relief. Both her mind and body felt soft and weak, she just wanted to go lay down in her bed and sleep for a month.
"Hermione, you need to focus for a few minutes." Ron said as he helped her to sit up.
"Why?" Hermione whined.
"Like I said, we need to talk."
"About what?"
"What we are going to do now." Ron pulled out a chair and helped her into it before sitting down in one of the others. "We need to think about our own futures and not just what Dumbledore wants."
"Headmaster Dumbledore." Hermione corrected sluggishly. "What do you mean? The headmaster knows what's best, you know that."
"Does he? Face it Hermione, the man isn't in charge. He lost control a long time ago.
Yes, I agree that he has the best plan for our world, but we can't keep just following him like we have. He will take us with him if he goes down.
I have heard about how great the Headmaster is since I was small. I have heard all about his grand plans to fix our world, but it just isn't working. He had made arrangements to make sure Hadrian was the Harry Potter we needed, but that clearly hasn't worked. He had plans of Ginny marrying him, but again, not happening.
So many of his plans are failing. Maybe he will be able to salvage it, but it is going to be difficult. I'm just suggesting that we make sure we have a back up plan for us in the case things go bad."
Hermione actually had to agree. Her mind was still functioning too slowly for her to come up with any arguments to counter him. The Headmasters plans weren't working. "What should we do?"
"We need to secure our own base." Ron said. "Hadrian said that he and the twins were soul mates, and from just what I know about soul mates, there is no way he will ever willingly marry Ginny. That means we need to find a new way in. I would suggest a strategic alliance with the twins, but I really don't want to have to deal with them, you know what they're like.
But we are going to need to do something. I figure, we can follow the Headmasters suggestions, but we need to be smart about this. Maybe find someone in the ministry we could work with."
"There's Tonks." Hermione suggested.
"I don't know… I heard her talking with my mum over the summer. She's been passed over for promotion twice so far. She might not be the most useful contact. We need someone high up, with authority, that we can work with."
"I can look into it once I'm feeling better." Hermione suggested.
"That might be a good idea. I mean, you've seen how everyone was after the meetings this summer. Everyone was arguing or angry with each other. You've read how things have been in the paper. Dumbledore has been arguing with the minister too. Between that and that law about vigilante groups being arrested I don't think this war's going to go the way he wants.
None of what he's doing is making any strategic sense, it seems more based on his ego."
Hermione was startled by that. She had never really seen this side of Ron, sure, she had known that he was good at strategy for years, but she had never thought he would be able to apply it to real world situations like this.
"What about Ginny?" Hermione questioned. "What will we do with her?"
"For now, we let Ginny do her own thing. Like I said, there is almost no chance she will be able to get together with Hadrian. I figure we just let her stay with mum, she'll look after her. Ginny can't keep things quiet, so if we tell her anything about what we're doing she will go running right to mum to tell on us.
No, we need to keep her out of this, at least for now. Who knows, this might all be for nothing? Dumbledore might be able to regain control, but I have my doubts. Right now, it's the minister that is the bigger power, but we also need to take into account that that is because of who is backing him.
Dumbledore has been making far too many adversaries and not enough allies in the past few years. The only reason he still has his position here at the school is because of his reputation. If he doesn't start getting things to go his way soon, he might not be headmaster for much longer. You've seen how Black and Prince, along with James Potter and Alice Longbottom have been reacting to him."
Hermione didn't want to admit it, but she had too. Headmaster Dumbledore was losing too much power. "We could help him."
"We could try, but they've already said we can't join the Order because we're still 'kids' in their eyes. They're never going to listen to us, my mum especially. We might be able to help them later, but for now we need to protect ourselves."
Hermione had to agree. She wasn't about to risk her future. She would do everything in her power to work with Headmaster Dumbledore, she did still idolize him, but she wasn't going to go down with him if he did.
This was actually the first time Hermione was pleased about the idea of one day marrying Ron. If he remained like this then she thought they would make a wonderful couple.
Hogwarts - February 14, 2007
As had become common, Hadrian once again missed the Valentines Day feast. This year, since they had added into the marriage contract that Hadrian could leave school grounds for dates, Hadrian and the twins had gone out.
Fred and George had made arrangements for them to take a portkey to Venice. They had a wonderful dinner out on a balcony overlooking the grand canal before going on a private gondola trip. Thanks to magic the temperature was perfect, and the gondola rowed itself. They spent the entire evening without a care in the world. They were free to be themselves and no one could say a thing.
Neville and Luna, as per usual, were enjoying a picnic in the green house. Neville had even gotten permission from Professor Sprout to use the nursery this time since the baby fairy bushes were in full bloom and he knew how much Luna loved fairies.
Draco had taken Fey up to the ROR. The two spent the evening relaxing next to a waterfall in a forest.
While Autumn and Lily sat together at Gryffindor and commiserated over the fact that both of their boyfriends had graduated and couldn't be there with them, so the girls decided to be each others date for the evening. Cedric and Viktor had, of course, made sure to send the girls flowers and plenty of their favourite sweets.
But, this year there was another addition to the couples. Ron and Hermione were going on their first official date. They hadn't planned anything in advance, and since Hermione still refused to use a house elf under those specific conditions, the two just ate together in the great hall. Ron was a little confused by the whole house elf thing since the girl ate the food served in the hall and never saw a problem with her laundry getting done or her bed being made, but showed enough intelligence not to argue with his new girlfriend.
Up at the head table Albus was frustrated. He had seen the changes in his three pawns and he wasn't sure he liked it.
The children may have thought they were being stealthy in their actions, but they really weren't. Didn't they understand that he was able to observe them at almost any time? He had made an art of the practice of studying the students that attended his school and being able to determine when any of them are up to anything.
He had seen the way Ronald and Hermione had changed, it was only slight, but it was there. The two had been slowly trying to work their way in with certain students. They weren't having much success, but they were having some.
Ron had set his focus on his roommate Zacharias Smith and a few of his friends, including Ernie Macmillan and Micheal Corner. Both Smith and Macmillan were heirs to their family titles, and Corner's grandfather was the current head of the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad. Then there were his attempts to get close to Cormac McLaggen. The McLaggen family had been very influential in the ministry for years, focusing more on making alliances with those in powerful positions rather than getting the positions themselves.
He had seen Hermione working on getting closer with those like Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Sue Li, Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe. Susan was the heir of the Bones title, along with being the niece of the head of the DMLE. Hannah, although not the heir to her families title since she had an older brother, still came from a very influential family. Sue Li's family was loaded with diplomats and political figures. And Cho and Marietta had family rather high up in the ministry.
Hermione really wasn't having much luck though. Susan, Hannah, and Sue seemed to do everything in their power to stay away from the girl without being openly rude. Things were a bit better with Cho and Marietta though. After their involvement in the Inquisitorial Squad the two seventh years that had once been extremely popular were learning what it was like to be isolated and mocked, not many in their house were willing to put up with any of the girls old bullying antics. Since the two were isolated they were more willing to talk to Hermione, but they still didn't really get along that well.
Then there were the changes in Ginny. The girl had actually started to become more like Albus had hoped she would be. Her grades had increased slightly. She, although still making her opinions well known, had started to settle down. So far, she had only been caught in a closet with a boy once since the end of Yule break, and that was the longest she had gone in over a year. The girl, like the other two, seemed to be more focused on building alliances, but she was more focused on the wealthy than those with contacts at the ministry.
Albus could see that his pawns were starting to break away from him, but at this point he really didn't want to stop them. It would actually work better for him. If they made those contacts and cultivated relationships he would be able to use them later. The three might finally be worth something.
He knew that all he would need to do to regain control over the three was bring up the money that he was paying them. They could either fall back in line or he would cut them off. It still annoyed him that he had had to pay them all this time just to watch them fail miserably at what should have been simple tasks, but he had still needed them.
The only thing that was really concerning him, was trying to figure out what would have caused these changes.
Hogwarts - February 28, 2007
Albus was sitting, practically glaring, at Fred and George Weasley. Iona Fabrri and Lucien Zarno sat to either side of their apprentices and the four heads of house were scattered around the office.
"What is this about?" Iona demanded, she had been working on her latest project when she had been demanded up to the office for some unknown reason.
"I feel that we must address the antics of Fred and George." Albus said in a disappointed voice. "I do not feel that the two of them should remain here given their side venture."
"Side venture?" Filius questioned.
"Well, would either of you like to admit what you have been doing?"
Fred and George looked at each other in confusion. George was elected to speak for the two. "We have no idea what you're on about."
"Then I guess it is up to me to inform the staff that these two are responsible for almost every prank played over the past few years." Albus gave them a grave look.
Fred and George once again shared a confused look. They had absolutely know idea what was going on. Yes, they had played plenty of pranks over the years, but in no way was it even half of them. "I believe we had this discussion years ago, unless you can show proof that they did anything, I will not punish them." Pomona crossed her arms and prepared for a fight. Albus and Minerva had tried to get the twins in trouble every year for pranks, and she had never let them target her students without proof, and she wasn't about to start now.
"I must agree with Pomona." Severus drawled. "Unless you have proof, you are just wasting our time."
Albus was irritated that so many had stopped listening to him and doing what he said. Pulling out the business registration form he laid it out on the desk. "Would you two care to explain this?"
Fred picked up the paper, his confusion not abating as he read it. "It's our business registration form. Sir, I'm still confused. What does this have to do with our apprenticeship? We aren't students anymore, we can't be punished for anything you may think we did while we were students here."
"You two own a business?" Pomona said in shock looking at her former students.
"Yes, Fred and I opened up our own shop a few years ago." George shrugged. "Am I to assume that that is why we are here? Are you trying to say that because we own a joke shop we are some how responsible for every prank?"
Albus stared the two down for a moment. "You have been causing mayhem with your products."
"No, others have caused mayhem." George grinned. "It is written on every receipt that once they leave our shop they, and they alone, are responsible for whatever trouble they cause."
"Yes, we make it perfectly clear that whatever is done with our product after they leave our shop is not our responsibility." Fred grinned to match his brother.
"I feel I must agree." Flitwick smiled happily, already planning on stopping by the shop to see what the devious duo had created. "You can't blame them for the actions of others just because they own the shop."
"And Iona and I were informed of the existence of the business as per the requirements of setting up the apprenticeship contracts." Lucien added quickly so that Albus couldn't use that to try and dissolve the contracts.
"How can you all be so calm about this?" Minerva demanded. "These two have been giving prank items to the other students. How many times have we had to deal with the consequences of some prank or another? How many times have our classes been disrupted? Just look at the chaos last year."
"We haven't given anyone anything, we've been selling them." George smiled at the angry woman.
"Oh come on Minerva, you've never been so opposed to pranks before." Filius still remembered when Minerva had protected Sirius and his friends for pranking others. He knew it was because they had been in her house while the twins weren't.
"I'm still confused as to what our business has to do with our apprenticeships and why it would be a reason to have us removed from Hogwarts. We haven't broken any rules." Fred said, he just wanted this latest meeting to end.
"You have been using your positions to financially benefit yourselves. It is against the rules to do that as it is a conflict of interest." Albus huffed, he wanted these two gone and if this was how it got done, then so be it.
"It would only be a conflict if they were advertising their products. And, since up until this moment most of us didn't even know that they owned the business then they haven't done anything wrong." Filius said. "They aren't the only ones here who have side businesses. I know that Severus sells his potions on occasion. I own shares in a duelling company."
"My family has a farm where we raise specialty plants." Pomona added. "Like Filius said, most staff members have other interests outside the school. For Merlins sake, you own a restaurant in town that profits off the students that go there. So, unless you are asking all of us to leave, including yourself, you can't ask the twins too."
Albus ground his teeth. "Then I shall just ensure there is no risk of conflict. Until you two finish your apprenticeship all products sold at your store will be banned from these grounds."
Albus knew they wouldn't be able to handle that. The students most likely made up the largest amount of their profits. They would have to leave unless they wanted their business to go bankrupt.
"You can't do that." Fred said, slightly startled by this new method of attack.
"I can, and I am." Albus's voice conveyed just how serious he was.
"No, he means you really can't do that. You can't ban items from one shop and not another." George started to explain. "So, unless you ban all prank products, including those from Zonko's, then you can't ban ours.
That's the same issue Umbridge had when she tried to ban The Seer last year. If you try to just ban our products and no others then we will file a lawsuit for discrimination, like the Lovegoods did."
"They are correct. While you can do it since you can make rules in the school, you can't legally do it. If you try the route that you don't want any member of staff to profit from businesses the students frequent then you would also have to bar all students from having anything to do with the business the other staff are involved in, including barring all students from your restaurant." Severus added.
"Fine, but I am issuing a formal warning, I do not want to hear anyone advertising those products." Albus forced himself not to snap. He hated how things never went his way anymore.
Maybe he would have to speak with Molly? He wasn't overly sure of what she could do since she hadn't managed to get Percy to help them, but it was all he had left. He really didn't understand why the other members of staff were protecting those two.
The two were just so…
They had caused so many problems in his plans and Albus wasn't about to let that go. Molly was the way to go. Even if she wasn't successful, at least she could make sure to tell them everything she thought they were doing wrong.
If there was one thing Molly was good for, it was making people suffer.
Undisclosed Location - March 17, 2007
Voldemort was once again glaring at the wall that sat opposite his throne. The wall seemed different than it had been in the past, but he couldn't focus long enough to care.
At this point he was trying to think of what to do next. This war was proving to be much harder than the last one had been. At the start of the last war everyone was too startled or scared to do much of anything. It had taken years for the ministry to form any opposition to him. But this time they were prepared before he even made his return known. He couldn't build up his forces the way he had before. He knew that many chose to join him because they wanted to be on the winning side rather than out of loyalty. It was why there had been so many spies and traitors, they had let anyone join.
He wasn't going to make that same mistake. Only those that were completely loyal would be granted his mark. He was not going to risk another spy joining his ranks.
Although, he had his suspicions that they already had a spy in their ranks. So far every attack they had planned had been interrupted by the military. Since the failed attack on London Tower they had gone after a few more targets, both in the muggle and magical world, and each time the military showed up.
The only thing that was stopping Voldemort from completely losing his temper was that they had finally managed to do some serious damage. During an attack in a muggle town a spell had hit some sort of muggle vehicle that had been carrying fuel and a few people had been killed. It wasn't much, but it was something.
He was sure that if they just kept moving forward things would eventually turn their way. They were doing the right thing by purging their world of all the filth after all. Magic would aid them for protecting it.
Another thing that he was contemplating was the prophecy and the Potter brat.
So far, he had yet to find a way to get the prophecy. Now that the DOM knew he was after it his follower in that department had said they had increased security. There was no way he would be able to gain access again, at least for a few years, and he didn't have the patience to wait that long.
That left him with only one other option. The Potter brat had to die.
Dumbledore had turned the child into an icon for his followers, whether the boy followed him or not. When he killed their icon the light would crumble. It would also damage those idiots in the neutral faction. And that would work perfectly for him.
Now he just needed to figure out how to gain access to the boy.
Voldemort knew that he could just send some of his school age followers after the boy, but he wanted to deal with him personally. Since it had been the boy who had defeated him last time, he needed to be the one to kill the boy or else his followers would question if he was weak.
Never to his face of course, but they would whisper it amongst themselves. And he would not tolerate insubordination like that. The tip of Voldemort's wand started to glow green at that thought.
But how was he supposed to get into the school? He also wanted to make sure that he didn't end up in another trap. And that meant he was going to need to send his followers first.
He couldn't do the same thing that he had done last time where he followed his followers immediately after they cleared the way. During their next big attack he was going to follow only after he was assured it wasn't a trap.
It would be better if he stayed a safe distance away and just observed the first stage of the attack. Just so that he would be able to get a clear view of his followers capabilities. Once he had gotten a clear picture he would go and lead the second stage of the attack, targeting the Potter brat, Severus, and Dumbledore. Their deaths would be excruciating, and public.
Headmaster's Office - March 25, 2007
Hadrian was sitting in his usual chair in the Headmaster's office. He knew why this particular day had been chosen to hold this first lesson about Voldy's past. His papa was scheduled to monitor the students and therefore hadn't been able to attend this meeting.
Which was why his Uncle Sirius was sitting next to him. Although, Hadrian didn't really understand the logic Dumbledore was using in thinking that his Uncle would be more willing to help him. Hadn't these past years showed him anything, Sirius was no longer on the old mans side.
"So what are these lessons about?" Sirius asked, only slight annoyance showing in his voice.
"We will be reviewing the life of Tom Riddle. I have acquired memories from others, as well as my own, so that Hadrian can get a clear view of what is going on." Albus showed the large collection of silver vials. "It will help Hadrian to better protect himself if he knows the origin of his potential attacker. It will also help if you have the same knowledge Sirius since you and the others are in charge of his security during the summer."
Hadrian wanted to snort. Dumbledore may have thought he was subtle, but he really wasn't. He really didn't understand why no one seemed to catch on to what the man was up to, and if they did, why no one called him out on it. The best he could figure was that no one wanted to be the one to call out an old man, despite the fact that he was a manipulative fool.
The good thing was that McGonagall had stopped forcing him to work with Weasley or Granger. It was obvious the woman didn't like that she was being forced to separate them, but she still followed whatever Dumbledore told her without question. Granger and Weasley weren't any happier, but they weren't fighting it, instead they just tried to get closer to him. Hadrian wasn't sure what was going on with those two, but he was weary. But, at least he and Neville were finally free to learn in peace.
Despite the act of caring for everyone, Dumbledore was singularly selfish and a narcissist of the worst kind. He acted like he was the only one who knew what was right, and that he was the only one that could lead them.
"I'm not quite sure how this will help, but let's get this over with." Sirius knew what it was about, but he knew they had to play along. Despite how much power Dumbledore had lost, he still had his fame.
It took over an hour to get through the first collection of memories. It was the same collection that he had been showed in his last life and just covered the family background of Voldy's family.
Hadrian was conflicted when he thought of Merope Gaunt. He felt that the girls early life was tragic and unfair, but that didn't excuse what she did. There were many who suffered in their life, that didn't mean they got a pass for doing bad things.
When he had first watched the memories he had been more sympathetic to the woman. He knew what it was to be mistreated and abused by family. He had felt a connection to the woman.
But now, not so much. Having been the victim of love potions, having others try and use him and control him, he saw what she did as monstrous. It was rape, plain and simple.
There was never an excuse for raping anyone.
And that was what he told Dumbledore when he questioned him about his thoughts. Dumbles had tried to get him to empathize with her at first, but Hadrian had just said, that while he could pity her for her early life, it was no excuse for what she had done.
Seeing that he wasn't going to get the response he wanted from this group of memories Dumbledore had dismissed him and Sirius saying that he would let him know when it was time for the next lesson.
Albus wasn't sure how to react as the door closed behind Hadrian and Sirius. He just couldn't predict the boys reactions to things.
If the boy had been raised the way he had wanted him to be, then he would have felt the strongest connection to Tom's mum, instead it was the father he had connected to.
What was going to happen next? When he showed him the memories of Tom and the orphanage was he going to feel pity for that deranged woman that ran the place?
He needed the boy to see himself in the younger Tom. That would make it easier for him to convince the boy how much alike they were. It would make him fearful and start to worry about becoming a monster, just like Tom had.
There needed to be that connection. Albus had planned for the boy to willingly walk to his death. It was the only way to destroy the horcrux. And that was only possible if the boy understood that his life wasn't important. Making the boy fear what he would become would be perfect to convince him to let himself die.
And, if he some how survived once again, then Albus would also be able to use that. After all, his survival would have had to have been the result of dark magic. Or, that was what he would tell everyone, using the existence of the horcrux as evidence. Once the peoples hero was dead he would be able to step into the roll.
Maybe… Maybe if it happened before he married the Weasley twins he could use that. He could use one of his contacts to hide their contract while planting a new one for the boy and Ginny. Then he could have everything the boy had given to Ginny as she would have been his wife.
It would be slightly more difficult since the boy had surviving family members, but he knew he might be able to convince a few key people. He needed to regain his power, at any cost.
ROR - March 31, 2007
Pansy Parkinson happily slipped into what she had been told was called the come and go room. There was a Ravenclaw to her left, and a Gryffindor on her right. They had work to do.
The weekend before her parents had called her home for family business. It had just been a cover.
Once home she was taken to see the Dark Lord.
She had been so proud as she kneeled before him. There were a few students who had had an audience with him, but she was the youngest to be granted the honour. He had only been allowing those who had graduated to take the mark since he had been warned the wards around the school had been upgraded and he didn't want to risk they would alert anyone who his followers were.
Her instructions had been simple. There was a magical cabinet that was in the school that would connect to its partner that was in Borgin and Burkes. She, along with her two helpers were to fix it so that they could get the Dark Lord and the others into the school without having to cross the wards. Doing it that way would ensure that the wards wouldn't alert the staff to their presence.
The Dark Lord had promised her an honoured position in his followers once she graduated if she was successful. He had also promised her that he would arrange for her to marry Draco so she could become Lady Malfoy.
Pansy had always wanted to be Lady Malfoy. While the Parkinson family had their wealth and power, they didn't have the title or the social standing. Pansy wanted all that and more. Plus, Draco was hot. Although, she was going to make him bath for a week before he would be allowed to even lay a finger on her, she knew all about that half-blood he was dating. Once the Dark Lord took over she was going to request that she be given the little whore as a slave, she would make sure Draco regretted embarrassing her by refusing to invite her to the Yule Ball during their forth year, along with everything else he had done to her over the years.
The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor who were assigned to work for her were both seventh years. The best part in Pansy's opinion was that although she was the youngest she was still in charge. This was because the other two came from lower families and so their full devotion hadn't been assured. But, the Parkinson family had loyally served the Dark Lord since the beginning and her father was a part of the inner circle so she was more trusted than the other two.
Pansy swore she would not fail.
Headmaster's Office - April 7, 2007
As expected, when Severus once again had rounds, Hadrian was called up to the headmasters office for another one of his lessons. Again, they just watched more memories.
Hadrian really didn't see the point. He knew that Dumbledore already knew where the horcruxes had been. Spending hours watching memories when he could have just told him and been done with it was annoying. But it was just so Dumbledore for him to try and convince Hadrian that it was his idea.
This time, the memories were about Tom's childhood. Hadrian really did feel sorry for the boy Voldy had once been. No child deserved to be treated like that. And he said as much when asked.
Hadrian made sure to spend a great deal of time discussing how no one helped the boy. How it was wrong that the boy had been sent back to a place like that. How so many people had failed him.
Dumbledore had developed a tick over his left eye but he couldn't really say anything. Hadrian knew that it had been Dumbledore that had been the one to keep sending the boy back, even intervening a few times to stop the ministry from being contacted. It was what he had done during Hadrian's first life.
In total, it was over two hours of listening to the old man dance around the fact that he had intentionally sent the boy back in the hopes of creating a dark lord.
Albus huffed out a sigh after the brat and Sirius had left. Merlin how he hated that boy.
While he knew there was no way the boy could know that he had been the one to keep returning Tom to the orphanage, it was still irritating to have to stay quiet as he listened to him bad mouth him. Didn't the boy understand? Tom was evil, and he always had been? The only reason he hadn't started a war sooner was because the orphanage had held him back. The boy had been a parselmouth after all.
Taking a deep breath, Albus forced back his anger. Just a little bit longer.
Soon enough he would regain control, he just needed to get a few more things in line he was sure.
Molly's Flat - April 17, 2007
Molly grinned as she finally had everything in place. After taking back her Great Aunt's book from Ginny, Molly had gotten an idea. There were all kinds of rituals in that book, she had been sure there would be one that could help her.
And, as she had expected, she found one.
Near the back of the book Molly had found a very old ritual that could shatter a soul bond. It had taken her the past few months to gather all the material needed, but she had finally done it. It did help that Dung was able to get most things, it had just been about figuring out how to pay for it since the man wouldn't just wait to be paid once her Ginny was Lady Potter.
The final ingredient she had needed had actually been the easiest to get. She had needed the blood of the three boys. But Molly had always kept a small vial of blood from each of her children in case she ever needed to find them if they were taken. And Albus had done the same with the Potter boy, he just thought she hadn't known that he had been storing it in a safe behind one of the paintings.
There was no way that Molly was going to allow Fred and George to marry Hadrian. She was sure they had to have done something to fake a soul bond, the boy was meant for her baby girl after all.
Molly still remembered when she had first seen the twins, while she had loved them, just like she had loved all the other boys, she had been wary of them. She had known that they would be more likely to be like her brothers since they were also twins. Over the years she had tried to get control of the two of them so they didn't turn out like her brothers, but it seemed it hadn't worked. They were just like her brothers, husband stealing and all.
But she wouldn't let that continue. After this ritual, they would no longer be able to stand between her baby girl and the life she deserved.
Things did not go the way Molly had planned. Just before she could start the ritual her home was invaded.
At first Molly had thought she was being attacked by Death Eaters, but it was worse. Her home had been broken into by aurors. And, they had had the audacity to arrest her.
Molly was absolutely horrified as she was taken out of her home in cuffs. The only good thing was that it was the middle of the night so no one saw.