Corvus entered the Great Hall. Conversation stalled. Students and staff looked up. He raised one eyebrow and kept walking. It was Sunday. So no classes. Most of the students were in their common rooms or somewhere in the castle or its grounds. He went to the raised table of the professors and sat in his usual seat.
He reached for the Daily Prophet on the dais.
A KIDNAPPING ATTEMPT IN THE SAFEST PLACE IN WIZARDING BRITAIN
WHO ORDERED IT?
by Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent
Dear readers, one hardly knows where to begin when a secretary's stamp tries to haul away a professor from the High Table. But begin we must, and we begin with paper, pink and sticky with power.
Yesterday, Senior Auror John Dawlish appeared at Hogwarts with a so called order, an official summons signed by Senior Undersecretary Dolores Jane Umbridge. A secretary, readers. Not the Head of the DMLE. Not the Minister. A secretary who fancied herself authorized enough to send a Senior Auror into Hogwarts to collect Professor Corvus Black, the youngest Master of Potions in four centuries and Master of Charms besides. Shall we call it by its name. A kidnapping attempt, and in broad daylight.
This reporter watched the Ministry atrium when the attempt failed so loudly that even the fountain seemed to hold its breath. Dawlish arrived back at Ministry face first, literally. Madam Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE, checked the seal of the memo which ordered the Senior Auror to kidnap the brightest star of Durmstrang herself. It glowed true dear readers. However, Minister Fudge denied giving the order. You may ask as I did. If the Minister and the Head of the DMLE did not order it, who did? And why did a Senior Auror obey.
Professor Black's answer to this lawless and might I add unsavory attempt was to stun Senior Auror Dawlish and bring him back to the Ministry. However according to Professor Black, Auror Dawlish has some arguments with multiple tables, chairs and door frames which resulted in many bruises and bumps across his face. Professor Black in his role as an educator advised, the Aurors should be more careful. This reporter was convinced at the spot that this young man has a heart of gold. Helping even to his failed kidnapper.
Chain of command exists to protect the public. Yesterday it protected no one. It made a spectacle. Shall we feel safer knowing Senior Aurors take orders from secretaries? Or shall we ask the older question. If even the Heir of a Most Noble and Ancient house can be targeted in his workplace, what chance has a regular witch's daughter at the Leaky Cauldron. What chance has your son on his way to Charms. What chance have any of us when a simple memo outranks law. There are over one hundred secretaries in Ministry. This threat can not be overlooked.
As for the Undersecretary, few expected that fussy hand to reach for an Auror cloak. Yet here we are. Would Madam Umbridge, alone and unbacked, stride toward the High Table to kidnap a professor? Or was there a nod from the very top? The Minister, who fainted when Professor Black explained how this failed attempt killed his chance of reelection. Make of that what you will, this reporter already has..
And what of Hogwarts, the so called safest place in Wizarding Britain. An Auror with illegal orders crossed the wards and walked the corridors. This humble reporter would share some whispers as well. The Samhain night whispers. A troll in the castle. Yes, dear readers you read correct. This reporter heard that on the night of Samhain a Troll was in the castle. Our beloved children were in grave danger. No official statement has denied it. As far as the claims go Professor Black saved the children shivering under the club of the creature. The children lived and a certain creature did not. This reporter will seek the full truth of that night. What is shocking more than the troll in Hogwarts though is the silence that followed. Chaos enters yet Hogwarts pretends nothing happened. The myth of safety covers the stain.
Let us be clear about Professor Black. He is British by blood. A registered professor by rank, and a double Master by merit. His potion has woken children in Germany. If such a man can be summoned by a secretary's flourish and marched out by an Auror, without so much as a polite note to Headmaster Dumbledore or the Deputy Headmistress. Then you dear reader, should keep your travel cloak on its peg and your wand at the ready.
This reporter has requested a full transcript of Madam Bones' investigation and already has the photograph of the Undersecretary's memo printed. The Daily Prophet will print the investigation transcript when it is released. We have also written to the International Confederation of Wizards asking what safeguards exist when Ministers disclaim orders and secretaries play at power.
Until then we ask simple questions. Who gave the order? Why did a Senior Auror obey it. Where was Headmaster Dumbledore when an illegal order was enforced under his nose. And how many more times must Heir Black, a shining star stand between our children and our complacency before the adults in the room remember their duties.
The Memo and more on page three, including an interview request to Lord Arcturus Black and Heir Black, who, readers will note, did not faint.
Corvus read to the end, turned the page once, and set the paper aside. "Pimsy," he called, the elf appeared with a loud pop. "Tea and a light brunch, if you will." After a while both his orders were in front of him. He poured and let the room find its noise again.
--
Amelia Bones knocked once and opened the door a heartbeat later. Minister Fudge sat behind his desk. Dolores Jane Umbridge stood to his right, hands folded, smile fixed.
"Dolores Jane Umbridge," Director Bones said. "You are under arrest for attempted kidnapping, misconduct of authority, and identity fraud."
The smile thinned. Fudge's hand fluttered. "Amelia, there must be some misunderstanding. Dolores would never.."
"Minister," Amelia said, and looked at him. "Are you using your office to stop an arrest."
Color left his face. "No. No, of course not, Director."
Umbridge held still for a long second. Then she turned on him. "Minister, you will not allow this farce," she said, voice rising.
Amelia did not look at her. "Wands," she said. Two Aurors stepped in. The cuffs clicked. The pink jacket did not help her when she tried to pull away.
Outside, the atrium sounded wrong. Too loud. Too full. Witches and wizards had crowded the floor and the balconies. Someone shouting. Someone else had a chant. Names traveled the air. Umbridge's traveled farther than the rest.
--
While the Ministry was filled with angry Witches and Wizards, Corvus was sitting on a rickety chair at St Mungo's, behind the window of a London shop front that hid the hospital. He held a cup of tea. A nurse had pressed into his hand. He was sipping it slowly.
Augusta Longbottom's hat announced her before she turned the corner. She came straight to him. Corvus stood.
"Dowager Longbottom," he greeted her with a polite nod..
"Heir Black," was the answer. "Shall we."
They started to move with Dowager longbottom's slow steps.
"I read Bellatrix's contract," Augusta said as they walked. "I wish Cygnus to be alive so I could put him under a curse and leave him to suffer." She stopped talking for a while. "Did you know that Narcissa was friend of Alice. A year or two older. She used to tell stories of the Black sisters. Even Bellatrix, a slightly deranged was what she told me once. But never cruel to her. Not once."
"The contract with Rodolphus ruined her," Corvus said. "That contract in the hands of the Lestranges was a sentence." He did not add more.
They walked the long corridor toward Janus Thickey Ward while talking in hushed tones. Doors on both sides. Names on brass. A Healer in green waited at the end. Dowager Longbottom introduced him as Healer Oswin Penhaligon. He nodded to Augusta and to Corvus.
Augusta knocked once and opened the door. Alice was laying asleep. Frank on the other hand sat awake and moved a toy broom in slow circles.
"Are you a nurse," Frank asked, looking up with eyes of a child.
Augusta nodded. "You will rest now," she said. The Healer raised his wand and sent him into a quiet sleep.
Corvus moved towards Alice Longbottom's side first. He set six vials of Aetherveil on the table by her bed. Afterwards he lifted her head and set a pillow. He touched her mouth and eased it open. He gave the first vial, then the second. Without pause he added the third. He waited and counted breaths.
He lifted one eyelid. His wand was in his hand. He entered with a whispered legilimens.
Rain. Bella's hysterric laughter was coming from time to time. Some in mad glee some more like a wailing in agony that even hearing it hurt. The word Crucio thrown like stones. Pain layered on pain until the whole scene was fracturing and starting all over again.
Alice Longbottom was thrashing on the floor screaming her lungs out. Corvus watched for some time. After a while he noticed another figure, another Alice Longbottom. Watching from the window without moving. The serum had suppressed the emotional link to the scene, to screams, to pain.. She saw what had been done to her and did not drown in it.
"Alice Longbottom," Corvus said.
Her eyes turned from the night to him. "I remember," she said. "I remember pain and fear and desperation."
Corvus gave her time to gather herself for the first time in a decade.
"Where is Neville." She asked still in that cold, emotionless tone.
"At Hogwarts," Corvus said. "You are at St Mungo's. You have been here for twelve years." He told her the rest in clear lines. Her mind held to them like rope.
Out, in the room, the Healer Penhaligon worked beside Augusta. He cast diagnostics in a steady chain.
"Impossible," he said under his breath, again and again.
Corvus inhaled at the head of the bed. He let the eyelid fall and drew his wand back.
"She will wake in a while," he said.
He crossed to Frank. He set three vials on the table and began again.
Alice pulled a breath like someone drowning breaking water's surface.
--
Healer Penhaligon's wand was restless with the diagnostics. Still murmuring of impossibilities.
Alice's eyes opened. Clear. "Neville," she said, voice rough.
Augusta did not move for a breath. Then a tear ran down her cheek. She called a Longbottom elf and sent him to the school with a message. No fuss. No speech.
Corvus finished Frank's third vial. He ignored Alice Longbottom for the time being. Wand in hand he whispered and went in.
The same night. Same rain. Laughter that hurt to hear. Crucio again and again from different wands. Frank stood in the hall at Longbottom Manor and watched the first curse hit Alice. He could not move. Helplessness seeping deep into his bones, his marrow. He could do nothing, Auror Longbottom as helpless as a newborn. His own screams joined hers after a long while. They ran with hers until there was nothing else.
Corvus found Frank at the entrance of the Manor. Standing still, even after three vials his mental image was fracturing from time to time. Should have given him one more he thought and called for him.
"Frank Longbottom," Corvus said. "Look at me."
Frank turned from the harrowing scene. There, under all the trauma all the suffering was a man. He couldn't forgive himself for what happened. All this anguish on the words of an old man. He cursed the day he joined the Order of Phoenix. Corvus approached to that man. He set the facts in order. He kept his voice even. Without hurry he explained the situation to the brittle man.
Corvus left Frank's mind space and stood up from the bed. Augusta was sitting next to Alice with her arms around her. The old woman shook but made no sound. Relief had taken her whole frame. Corvus saw the truth of her years in that one moment. They had lived a nightmare asleep. She had lived one awake.
"Frank will wake soon," Corvus said.
Augusta nodded once. Alice gave him a wet smile and held her mother in law by the sleeves.
Minutes passed. Frank pulled in air as if rising from death. His eyes found Augusta.
"Mother," he said.
She folded at the knees. The sound came then. Not polite. Not contained. Years broke at once and left her crying on the floor beside the bed.
Footsteps ran in the corridor at that exact moment. Neville stopped in the doorway. His chest moved like he had climbed stairs without counting.
"Mum," he said in a broken voice.
Corvus stepped back and turned to the Healer. "Healer Penhaligon. Let us give them the room."
Oswin Penhaligon inclined his head. They stepped out and pulled the door closed behind them.
What Corvus thought of the strange experience was something entirely different; yes, Cruciatus was a fitting punishment for his intended targets.