Golden Opportunities 7 (Edited)

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Bellatrix Nelson)

November 15th, 2001
USA
Salem
Pocket dimension outside of reality
Tower of Fate

Bellatrix was reading this amazonian treatise on Greek Magic with relish; since she married her husband many new avenues and opportunities had been opened to her. Greek magic was the closest thing to Atlantean Magic that she had access to. It was too bad that if she went to Atlantis she would receive a really bad reception due to the current climate of mistrust between surface dwellers and deep sea inhabitants.

She learned nice tricks such as eldritch bolts which attack the will to fight or sap the magical core of a Magi; Bellatrix had completely abandoned the path of black magic, there lay madness and she was now aware that it tainted the soul and sent the user to one of the bad afterlives if your soul was too saturated with the taint. Order magic was versatile, and it was better than whatever the wandwavers used. Sure they beat some aspects of Order magic with their sheer versatility and everyday life magic which could be weaponized, but… the power and knowledge of Order was vast.

Knock. Knock.

Bellatrix opened the door of her workshop and saw her House Elf, Diddy, standing there with a letter in hand and a letter opener. On the envelope was a seal that she took time to remember. It was that of a Chimera and the stylized M letter on it finally jogged the memory from her Mind Palace.

A myriad of scanning spells checked the letter before she took it from her elf; it was safe. "House Merigold? But didn’t Geralt and Sonya Die?”

Diddy gave her the letter opener and she sliced open the side of the envelope and the letter slipped out of it. She unfolded it and started reading.

Dear Missus Nelson,

My name is Triss Sonya Merigold. You may not know me because of the circumstances tied to you leaving Britain, but I wish to open contact between our two families. I’ve long since heard about how a progressivist faction of the Black family was secretly tied by alliance to the Merigold since we cured them of their curse of insanity. And knowing that you have been inducted into it by Arcturus Black, your grandfather, I wish to open dialog between us.

As a start, I wish to inform you that we found definite proof that Sirius Orion Black, your cousin, is innocent of the crime he is accused of. The sheep in charge of the Government didn’t even deign giving him a trial to ascertain his culpability. If you feel unconcerned by this and your heart has turned to stone toward your family, I can understand, the actions of your mother and father to align themselves with the petty Dark faction and their pet Leader is rather disgusting.

But, I wish to inform you that the winds of change are coming to this small community and that your power, knowledge and savviness would be appreciated to add to our faction, the Gray.

Hoping to hear from you.
Yours sincerely,

Triss Sonya Merigold.

Bellatrix reread the letter three times, placed it back in its envelope and became thoughtful. Being a highly intelligent sorceress, the witch thought about her marvelous husband Kent Jr, her two children Lyra and Perseus, they were respectively eleven and ten years old. She learned and practiced her order magic almost to mastery, enough to impress Doctor Fate himself.

She didn’t want to go back despite staying in contact with Andromeda who sometimes gave her news of what was happening in the old country. No she didn’t care about Britain’s magical community, those sheep could die for all she cared; the only people who mattered were her families and… their allies. There were not a lot of them nowadays, but House Merigold, its heiress, called for her help and direction.

Bellatrix made a decision. *And she shall have it.*

“It is time to confront my past.” She put down the letter on the coffee table and stood up; it was time to make the Nelson name feared.

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Harry Potter)

November 18th, 2001
Hogwart’s Gym club
10:21 AM

This was a good sunday, Harry had already finished his homework and his duty as the sport club president. It wasn’t much work, it was all about making sure everyone did their exercises and didn’t slack off. People started seeing results in their diet and body proportion; in the case of the first year, the sport club literally saved them from becoming too fat, only their magic keeping them in their ideal shape.

There was much work to do for the later years, especially when Healer Pomfrey introduced muggle concepts such as the Body Mass Index and the now dreaded weight scale that all Witches who were not mundane born hated. It was an enchanted model which was indestructible and couldn’t be tampered with by mundane or magical means.

Hogwarts Board of Governors made further changes to make the students healthier, such as to actually hire the professional staff for the Hogwarts gym and the magitek sports machine coming from MACUSA, courtesy of house Merigold and some of the Gray families.

It was only recently that the biology and medical study coming from the Magi enclaves and MACUSA penetrated the Department of Magical Education. The people in the ministry had been ignoring the reforms of the countries surrounding Britain and as a consequence the wizards here are considered the weakest.

*Like Triss said, Dumbledore doesn't want strong sheep; he wants them fat, happy and malleable. More and more everything wrong in this country came from the old goat causing trouble and holding positions in the government to hold everyone back in mediocrity and ignorance.*

Harry was using the small dumbbell and practiced a new series of his resistance training that he added to his workout routine this morning. He wanted to be just like the Rock when he was older, being tall and muscular should dissuade people from messing with him; like a certain group of losers in Little Whinging. Harry stopped suddenly lifting weight and started doing some push ups.

*To be honest, I don't have any intention to return to number 4 Privet Drive. They want normalcy to an obsessive degree, but what they did to me is not normal, I see that now that I am away from them.* He thought as he finished three series of twenty.

Harry felt stronger since he took that regiment of nutrition potions and a good dose of healing magic from Triss and Raven. He asked himself what that red stone is she used to heal him of the damage of malnutrition. Harry trusted Triss implicitly, but sometimes he wanted to know exactly what she thought; the girl could be reckless…

The girls had their secrets, secrets that fell under the family magic act. There was this big leather-bound grimoire which always appeared in Triss' hands and she wrote an arithmetic formula in it and started practicing it wandlessly. Raven and the redhead seemed to always focus on wandless magic; and she revealed to them that she specialized in another type of magical art called 'Order Magic' and it was also a form of magic closer to Atlantean Magic, something that Hermione professed to be a lost art.

Harry remembered how Raven and Triss laughed and pulled a blue colored Magic book out of nowhere that was titled 'Atlantean Magi guide for beginner' on it, and how Hermione snatched it from the redheads hands. She's been secluding herself in an empty classroom ever since.

Harry waited for his turn to read the book… but it's been one week and now he doubted that he would see the blue book before Hermione mastered it (i.e Next year). The green eyed boy stood up when he finished his work out and wiped out his wand.

"Tergeo." He incanted the cleaning spell to wipe down his body from the sweat he generated.

Harry still felt icky, Tergeo wasn’t like taking a shower so he would soon go to the communal bathroom in Ravenclaw tower and then meet his friends. He heard the gym’s door open, and a group of girls entered, some older and girls that he recognized such as Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet; then his eyes fell on Triss and Raven, the inseparable sisters.

The redhead was in a dark blue and bronze Hogwarts hoodie with some pants that were charmed to keep the wearer warm in winter. Fortunately it was still fall, but the girls were getting used to the climate controlled sportswear in advance. Raven and Triss’ eyes found the messy haired boy and the redhead was the first to walk up to him. "Hey, Harry."

The boy knew something was afoot when Raven didn’t follow Triss when she stopped before him. "Triss? Hullo, I didn't expect to see you before lunch."

Triss didn’t smell bad despite having gone for a jog, she smelled of flowers; and Harry asked himself if there was a spell for that? Taking something out of her special space, Triss gave a Snickers chocolate bar to Harry. "Here, a little snack."

She was softening him up for something, he learned how she acted with her friends when she had to tell them bad news. "Ah, thanks!"

The redhead looked down at the weights Harry had been using. They were mostly 2Kg ones, it was the best for beginners like him. Triss made a knowing smile, "You really took to that weightlifting mania, huh."

*Et tu, Triss? I saw you use them too.* Harry thought.

"I want to be strong." He replied with determination.

With the boys becoming obsessed with weightlifting and sports in general, it was a given that some of the craze would contaminate Harry. Even Ronald Weasley was going to the gym after being shown that Quidditch players did train their body to be more flexible and strong.

"Continue like this and you'll be, but take some rest too, okay?" Triss placed a soft hand on his cheek, and Harry blushed. He knew that she wasn’t interested in him that way, but he really liked being pampered by his girl friends. Fortunately, puberty didn’t hit him yet and he didn’t find girls interesting at this point in time.

He stepped back from her and averted his eyes with his cheeks still red. "There's Mister Jorgensen to watch out for us and magical alarms if we call for help."

Triss raised her hand and a trail of pink light followed her fingers showing a lot of Nordic runes following each other. "Mhhm, really sensitive ward scheme, you're right. There's an alarm."

Harry blinked. "How did you do that?"

Triss wriggled her fingers and grinned. "It's just a matter of checking the wards and pulse magic through them to make them appear."

"You do some strange stuff, Triss…" Harry mumbled as his friends kept showing new abilities.

The redhead tilted her head. "Analysis magic is something all enchanters and charm masters can do though. It’s just that mine can do it remotely without accessing where the wards are placed."

Harry perked up at that, so it wasn’t a weird ability but some kind of scanning magic; it reminded him of what the Doctor did in the show with his sonic screwdriver. "Oh, then I may get to learn some of that stuff. I want to become an enchanter like my mum."

Triss showed Harry a teasing smile. "Not a potion master?"

Harry crossed his arm. "Nah, I will keep that as a hobby."

Now that the banter was done, Harry decided to finally get why Triss was beating around the bush right now. "Um… Triss, you didn't come to see me to make idle conversation… What is it that you want to tell me?"

Triss’ expression slackened, she closed her eyes and breathed in and out slowly. When she reopened her eyes it was with a warm gaze that made Harry blush even more. Sometimes the girl acted as if she was his mom… Triss put a hand on his right shoulder and said, "I am proud of you, Harry. You came a long way from the shy little boy I took under my wing. You're right, I've come to speak about what my mother has been doing in the background…"

"Uh oh." This was going to get political.

Triss looked around her, there were too many people listening to them. "But not here, please follow me."

Triss took Harry's hand and pulled him out of the gym with Raven following them and they… teleported somewhere else. They found themselves before the portrait of Barnabas the barmy; what happened next was  hilarious, they walked three times in front of the wall opposite the portrait and a door revealed itself. Once the three of them were inside the room, Harry was mesmerized by the fact that it was some kind of training room with mannequins as targets and some moving ones.

Raven started first. "Do you remember how we found it strange that Dumbledore put you up with your relatives?"

Harry nodded hesitantly. "Yes, it has… started to bother me a lot. I mean… I could have been placed with aunty Andromeda, or Missus McGonagall, they are technically related to me through the Black family. But the headmaster didn't…"

Raven nodded and she hesitated before saying, "Mom, Andromeda and Madame Bones think that the old goat wanted… to make you a malleable pawn, that's why he placed you there. We… we found charms and magic wards to influence your relatives to abuse you in number 4 Privet Drive after Mom got someone really good at magic to scan the house from afar."

Nothing more was said, but Harry's face became dark and as he lowered his head his hands turned into fists. The two girls flanked him and began touching him soothingly. Triss whispered in his ear, “Calm down, Harry. Don’t do anything rash, we’re already taking care of everything for you. You'll  be free of him.”

“Triss… that-that man… he made my life hell.” Harry was shaking in rage.

Raven gave a look at Triss and the redhead nodded. "Take your wand, Harry, and blast those targets, see they look just like Snape and Dumbledore."

He listened and his wand fell from his wand sheath and shouted, "Bombarda!"

A small explosion blasted right at the center of the target, though the mannequin was unharmed; Harry next used a powerful cutting charm which let a huge gash on the Dumbledore mannequin. He used the levitation charm to take a ceremonial sword from the wall and threw it in the center of the target.

"Who taught him that?" Harry heard Triss ask from behind him.

Raven said with derision, “Hermione.”

He heard a slap and Triss saying, “It’s always the quiet ones…”

Harry continued wailing on the targets which regenerated each time as he exhausted his magic on them.

“This outburst worries me, Triss. Harry isn’t so angry all the time, right?” Harry felt the stare of Raven on his back.

He stopped when heard Triss say, "We need the thing outta his head ASAP."

Harry breathed in and out; watching the girls who seemed to know more about him than himself. “Girls, you owe me some more explanations….”

“You’ll have them.” Triss said with a nod.

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Albus Dumbledore)

Headmaster office
At the same moment…

Albus Dumbledore tried to scry the position of Harry and the two girls with him, but he couldn’t locate them. Not even through the wards he could find them! He asked himself, *How do they do that?!*

Since the loss of his deathstick and Phoenix, Albus felt quite reduced power wise and his health continued to decline. He forcefully calmed himself down, Albus couldn't continue to act like an idiot with the Merigold spawn. She obviously was more than intelligent and cunning to get away with all she did. The form about dismissing Binns was sitting there before him, it was signed by everyone on the damn board. His plan to keep everyone fat and ignorant of their own right was now fraying at the seams.

But, he was still the headmaster of this school and could refuse the motion. He used his seal and stamped it on the paper. Albus did it with great satisfaction, however, if he knew that an investigation would start from this simple act of defiance he would have approved the damn change…

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Bellatrix Nelson)

November 20th, 2001

The Justice Society of America had its hands full with the 9/11 attack which shook the nation. So it took time for even Bellatrix to free herself from her duty as magical support for the team. Fortunately, it was averted thanks to the teleporting abilities of Zatara and Doctor Fate who helped the military board the damn planes and kill the terrorists inside.

She arrived by portkey at Dover town, in England. It was where the MACUSA embassy and other countries’ were located.

Bellatrix was welcomed in a small building that gave the impression that it was a tourist trap of some sort. There were brochures in stalls showing the wonders of Dover and posters of the Eiffel Tower and some other places in Paris. Horrible place, it was full of those rude cheese eaters…

Waiting for her with her name written on a sign was a dark haired woman with blue eyes and a tasteful black coat covering her. Bellatrix walked up to her and the woman smiled at her. "Hello, my name is Angela Roth and I am the-"

Bellatrix interrupted her. "I know who you are, regent Roth. Come, we must go away, I don't appreciate all these looks. I've forgotten how gossipy British magicals could be."

With a wave of her hand, she opened a pink and gold portal, and next she held her hand out to Angela Roth. "Come with me."

Angela didn’t even hesitate and took Bellatrix’ hand and she was pulled inside the portal under the awed eyes of the wizards and witches present. The aperture in reality spit them out right in the middle of Diagon Alley and then they started walking to one of the side alleys. Angela led this time toward an establishment belonging to the family.

The black haired woman opened the door to the closed up shop. She signaled Bellatrix to enter and she did, cautiously of course. The interior of the shop was empty, there was only a counter and empty shelves in the room.

"You use a similar teleportation spell as my Trissy, but hers are smoother." Angela bragged as she closed the door behind her.

Bellatrix turned to the other woman. "Triss, your adoptive daughter, she wrote to me and was really compelling."

The ex-Black had done a lot of research on the surviving Heiress, she had been seen quite everywhere in Europe, Asia and the US since she hit six years old. It was strange for a young girl such as her to develop her own network of connections and assets at such a young age. It was revealed that she bought a lot of magic tomes rare and new, the girl didn’t mind that they were order or chaos magic.

Bellatrix wasn’t surprised that Triss Merigold could open portals, she was seen doing more impressive feats such as healing the sick in Africa. Truly incurable illness and conditions and all those events were hushed up for the protection of the child. But to people from the JSA? It was easy to uncover.

"Did she get through you? Will you help us?" Angela asked with hope in her tone.

The ex-Black replied, "I must meet her first to make a decision. She sounds really smart."

With a long tired sigh Angela said, "You have no idea, it's getting difficult to make her see sense when she has compelling arguments all the time."

Bellatrix liked that reaction and chuckled. "Oh my, she sounds like a handful…"

With a commiserate smile, Angela replied, "When she's enacting her schemes, yes she is. And that is why I wish to have your… expertise, my girl is what you would consider a rising dark lady."

"Oh? This young? I remember when I was eleven, I wanted to be Queen of the British Isles." Bellatrix was surprised, pureblood girls want to be more of a mover and shaker financially and free to marry who they want than to become magical powerhouse.

Angela gave Bellatrix a knowing smile. "I bet you did, but the problem is that my daughter has the money and power to succeed."

Bellatrix’ smile froze. "What?"

Angela went into detail about what she meant. "The ministry. Triss is determined to pull it out by the roots and burn it down."

The ex-Black was floored, then she started remembering the events of the last two years, the current economic recession, the migration of 90% of the New Blood to France and other countries more progressive… "Oh dear, and I remember the troubles the British magicals are having currently. Is it thanks to her?"

Angela enigmatically smiled at her."You'll have to discuss it with her."

After this, the two women went into the back of the store and Bellatrix was surprised to find a completely empty room; Angela waved a hand and an ornate wooden archway appeared.

She put her hand on one of the carved women at the base of the archway and a portal shimmered open. To her arcane senses, Bellatrix saw many layers of protection on the artifact. It was keyed to Angela and from the runes scheme that she could see a shield array on the archway to block passage to unauthorized people. There were also enchantments that were too complex for her to decipher; the item looked new and not like something ancient, it was too pristine for that.

Angela reached for her hand and then the two women entered through the portal and immediately exited into a more furnished room with medieval armor and statues depicting magical creatures. Bellatrix recognized a golem defense when she saw one; the armors were made of an alloy with high magical resistance…

"Ah, here we are, welcome to our British abode." Angela declared as she looked at Bellatrix.

“I see that this will become an interesting adventure…”

~~~ G.O ~~~

Back with Triss…
November, 24th 2001
Wiltshire
Merigold residence
Morning

Mum Angela took us for the weekend home, citing family business to Professor McGonagall to bring us out of school. It was right after sunrise; Daphne and my other friends didn't like that Raven and I were leaving. That would let Hermione take control of our study group and she often went overboard. Fortunately, I put Penelope Clearwater in charge… so that Hermione would respect her authority.

We saw professor McGonagall with mum Angela waiting for us at Hogwart’s entrance and she was decked in her usual fair dress; she looked great in a steampunk dress. She had one of my set of goggles to see magical fields.

"Good morning, girls." Angela said with a big grin and a hug that engulfed Raven and I.

"Hello, mum." We spoke together, in unison.

She kissed each of us on the forehead, then she looked at us with a warm smile. “Are you ready?”

Raven had the dumb idea to try to ask mum about the person we shouldn’t talk about. “Yeah! Say… How is-”

“Ouch!” Raven yelped.

Mum’s hand tightened on her right shoulder. “Rachel, OPSEC, remember?” My sister tried to escape, but mum kept her in place.

Raven was about to complain but saw the scary smile turned towards her way. My sister lowered her eyes and mumbled, “Sorry, mum.”

I turned to Professor McGonagall and waved goodbye at her. “See you monday, Professor McGonagall!”

“See you later, girls.” With a prim smile the woman waved back briefly.

We disappeared through a portal after we passed the wardline of Hogwarts. I could have opened a portal inside it, but let’s leave Hogwarts with its reputation of a fortress.

The return back home was indeed family business, Bellatrix Nelson née Black came back to Britain to see me. Mum brought us to our British home and Raven and I were ushered to the greenhouse where Bellatrix waited for us for breakfast.

The woman looked completely different from what I expected; she didn't look crazy and maniacal and she was almost a copy of Andromeda Tonks. Well they are sisters after all. With perfect curtsy, I greeted my family's guest. "Good Morning, Madame Nelson."

The woman stoically stood up and said, "Heiress Merigold, thank you for inviting me to come. Even more so for paying for the international portkey for me to come here."

I sat down on the dark green wooden chair as I said, "You're my guest, it was simple courtesy to do that much."

“So, you’ve asked for me, and now here I am.” Bellatrix said as she poured herself some tea after our elf popped pastries and the set on the table.

Huh, I thought she was going to make more small talk… fine then. “Let’s not play games then, Madam Nelson…”

She blew on her tea and smiled at me. “Call me Bellatrix, sweetie. I am no longer one of those posh ladies.”

Just like that she took control of the conversation and turned me into a supplicant in my own house. This was the first time that happened to me. I guess I still have things to learn, mom is American and she practically doesn't like to put on airs and act like she was in a Victorian era drama.

I used telekinesis to serve myself some tea, as well as some for mom and Raven. When I was done, I began to speak candidly. “Miss Bellatrix, I’m here to ask you to help us free your remaining cousins from under the yoke of Dumbledore and destroy his hold on magical Britain."

There was a slight frown on the ex-Black's face. "Who are you speaking about exactly? Who must I help you free?"

I made two pictures appear in my hand, it was the small gaunt face of Harry and the emaciated Visage of Sirius Black with his long hair. "Harry Potter and Sirius Black."

She didn't show it on her face, but Bellatrix' hand tensed when she saw the faces of the two. With a fake smile she spoke aloud, "Ah, little Sirius' stint in prison didn't do him any good; he had prided himself on his handsome face before prison. I’m not surprised that he isn't guilty of betraying his best friend. It's impossible, he is ritualy bound to protect Potter and James’ father welcomed him into his house. Sirius and Potter were practically brothers."

I nodded and continued speaking after a sip of my tea. "We discovered that lately, but… the current Minister of Magic was elected over the fact that he arrested Sirius Black. The corrupt little man won't let a trial happen, it would call into question his position. Then there is also the fact that Lord Black's freedom threatens the illegal guardianship of Dumbledore over Harry Potter."

Putting down her tea cup on its saucer, Bellatrix stared at me with suspicion. "Do you have proof? I don't want to participate in anything illegal."

Opening my mouth, I yelled, "Fawkes!"

FWOOSH!

The majestic bird appeared on my left shoulder and opened his wings wide; the entrance was dramatic and magical. Did he think that I wanted him to do the same bullshit he did for Dumbledore? Well that’s my bird, habits were hard to change.

Bellatrix’ eyes opened wide as she glanced at the Phoenix."You stole Dumbledore's familiar?"

With a nod, I smiled. "Dumbledore stole Fawkes' freedom, and after a chance encounter, I gave it back to him… but he jumped right back into being a familiar to thank me."

I was still worried for the old bird, he should have left to find a mate or something and be free. But I noticed that Fawkes really loved his new nest, he lives now on the mountain in Folkvangr where he made me lay countless protection enchantments for his burning days.

Bellatrix's stern expression turned into an amused one. "You girl, you're trouble."

With a laugh I replied, "No Madam, I assure you that it's trouble who likes finding me."

The woman clapped, and her facial expression firmed as if she had arrived at a conclusion. "Wonderful. Heiress Merigold, I have decided that I am going to have to monitor you more closely."

I winced, she won’t like what I am about to do next, I bet. "Please… call me Triss."

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Sirius Orion Black)

The same day
Merigold Household
11:03 AM

Sirius liked it here, he was fed regularly and the bed in his room was beyond comfortable. The furniture and decorations reminded him of his bedroom in Potter manor. Not overly ostentatious, but offering a cozy feeling. His mind wandered often to his past but the happy feelings of some of his memories were hard to reach after living eleven years in proximity to Dementors.

As he mused about the changes in his life, Sirius heard with his keen hearing multiple sets of footsteps coming toward his room. Then he heard…

Knock. Knock.

The door of his room was opened after the two knocks; a young girl of about eleven years old entered. She was a redhead with green eyes and a dusting of freckles on her face. She wore a tasteful green dress with golden patterns forming some strange patterns which looked like runes. The girl curtsied to him like a perfect pureblood, he found it wrong as she looked like a certain girl he met before and she was a new blood.

"Good morning, Lord Black." The voice… the voice was similar to the woman he had considered his sister.

His memory superimposed with reality and Sirius couldn't help but call her, "L…Lily?"

The girl winced and denied, "Ah, no… I am not my older cousin, my name is Triss Merigold. Lily Potter was originally from the Evans family which is an established squib branch of my family. "

This explained how she looked like the woman who became James' obsession his entire teenagehood. "Oh. You look… just like her in her childhood. Why did you come today?"

This was the girl Harry was friends with? Poor lad must be smitten with her like James was. "I am here to fix your problems, Lord Black."

With a raised eyebrow, the dog animagus stared at the Lily clone. "What can a little girl like you do? You should have started Hogwarts just recently…"

The other set of footsteps were heard, then entered three other women. He recognized Angela Roth, and a mini version of herself and his cousin Bella… "Hogwarts doesn't teach real magic, little Siri."

"Bella!?" With eyes widened, he suddenly walked up to her and hugged her.

He stepped away from her, but was still holding on to her arms. "Merlin, it feels so good to see you! The last time we saw each other, you were… Are you okay?"

Sirius then remembered the vacant look and silent Bella when the man had rescued her from the forced engagement her parents were about to force on her. His expression became full of regret as he said, "Bella, I'm sorry we couldn't help, but we told Nelson what was happening and he went to save you!"

This looked like it was news to Bella, but it might be possible… that she didn't know of his intervention? Arcturus had asked them to crash that party after all. Bellatrix had been in a really bad place when she left the family; catatonic might be the word employed after the attempted enslavement by marriage to the Lestrange bastard her mom had chosen for her. If Kent hadn’t been here to break the Hades contract, Bella would be used as a broodmare or worse at the service of the failing Dark Lord of Britain.

Sirius then felt a kiss on his cheek, he didn't even see Bellatrix move to kiss him and hug him. "Thank you, Sirius."

The man patted her back, then she let go of him.

Cough. Sirius turned to the little redhead who wiped a tear from her eyes as she said, "I'm sorry to butt into your family reunion, but I came here to do something for Lord Black."

The dog animagus frowned. "Oh and what is that?"

Triss Merigold surprised him by revealing, "Fix the damages the dementors caused, I mean spiritually. I am sorry that I cannot do a full time heal, but we need you to keep that appearance until your trial, My Lord."

"You can fix Dementor spiritual leeching?" It was Bella who asked the question, she looked quite shocked.

The little girl puffed up her chest and said in a smug tone, "Rather easily, spiritual magic is one of my Forte; it is illegal in Britain, though. But who cares about the Ministry's petty little nonsensical laws?"

Bella laughed, while Sirius looked shocked by the rant of the little girl. She sounded like a terrorist as she continued. "Those sheep destroyed their own heritage and tradition because of Dumbledore, and so many magical defenses and healing techniques were lost because the relevant magical fields were banned. Such as rituals, spiritual and emotional magic…"

It reminded him a bit of the pureblood speech, but it was only targeted at the Ministry and Dumbledore. Now that he knew what the old man was all about, Sirius wasn't going to defend him.

"Do it." Sirius found himself saying.

"Oh, you want to do it?" Bella asked, a bit unsure that this was safe.

Sirius nodded and stared at Triss. "Yes."

The little redhead pointed at the green and gold sofa behind him. "Sit on that sofa, please."

Sirius cooperated and sat, the little girl walked up to him. Her hands started shimmering with golden light. "Please stay still."

She began speaking in another language and Sirius felt himself becoming numb. In his mind, he started reliving his memories, the emotional detachment he had been feeling before was no longer there, he was regaining the emotions and feelings attached to his memories.

*This… this might actually be good.* The Animagus thought.

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Frank Longbottom)

November, 28th 2001
Ministry of Magic
Wizengamot room

Three weeks. It took three weeks for the Longbottom family to learn what they'd missed in eleven years. The Wizarding world wasn't the same as they remembered, Diagon Alley was almost empty, only die-hards like Madam Malkin and Florean Fortescue stayed with their store open. The economy was completely gutted in the wizard enclaves and towns; the muggle raised have left Britain in droves to other countries without the pure blood ideology.

France, Africa, Japan and MACUSA absorbed a significant part of the British magical population. It left the population of Newblood consisting of all the muggle raised still at Hogwarts and those who didn't have the money to move out of Britain.

Alice found that the light and the dark faction had doubled down on the situation  by making immigration difficult to stop hemorrhaging more people. It was a seriously bad move and created more discontent, but if the people couldn't employ magical means to leave, muggle ones were employed such as the plane or the Eurostar.

All those pureblood houses found themselves without anyone to fill the positions of the job they didn't want to do; even those muggle raised who had stayed disappeared into thin air somehow.

As for Frank he was getting frustrated by the incompetence of the Ministry, they were stalling him and making his life difficult while trying to take his seat. His mother had made a lot of enemies after allying with the Gray and leaving the Light on the wayside. Fortunately, they had more allies than the odd Light faction stooge who didn’t know their places.

Right now he was sitting in on a Session of the Wizengamot, and watched the Light and Dark faction throw the blame to their current problems at each other. The food shortages were taken care of by the Greengrass and Merigold Houses, and the gouging prices they practiced made everything harder for the life of the purebloods.

“They’re funny to watch, aren’t they?” Markus Greengrass who is at Frank’s side said with mirth.

Frank looked at the black suited man, he wore his robe over it. “Lord Greengrass, the situation is quite dire; they’re not trying to reach a solution at all.”

Lord Greengrass straightened his tie as he said, “Yes, and while they’re bickering, we’re slowly taking power as we show their ineptitude. They don’t deserve their positions at all.”

He chuckled as Lord Flint was about to throw a punch at Amos Diggory; some of their friends separated them before they went to blows. Frank glared at the spectacle before him, it was annoying… “They are wasting time when the situation is urgent. I don’t care who is responsible, I want solutions to our problems.”

Somehow everyone in the room heard him, and they stopped what they were all doing to glare or look at him neutrally.

“Lord Longbottom, do you have anything to say?” The current Chief Warlock in interim, Griselda Marchbanks, took advantage of Frank’s eruption to cut short the arguing going on.

Frank understood that Greengrass set him up as he looked at the blonde man smiling cunningly. *Effing Slytherin…*

He stood up and coughed before addressing the assembly. “My family has fought against the Dark Lord, and we paid the price for it and spent eleven years in the Janus Thickey Ward; Alice and I weren’t able to see our son grow up after we were tortured by the Lestrange brothers and their accomplices. We couldn’t be here for Neville at each milestone of his young life, but we were recently awakened from our catatonic stupor and pain brought to us by the failing of this very body.

Some of you, I won’t name anybody of course, have supported the monster who destroyed countless Houses and Families. There are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.”

A random Lord stood up, but he was seated where the Dark faction was in the room. “How dare you?!”

Another stood up, anger etched on his face. “We didn’t do anything!”

“What does a traitor like you know? You weren’t there!” A Light stooge stood up and accused Frank;they were still affected by the Longbottom House leaving their faction for the Gray.

Frank's face went blank as he heard each of them, he wanted to Hex them but he refrained. But when he spoke about what he truly felt. “When I woke up, it was to find the country I fought for to be in recession, with people starving or not able to manage themselves. Our very way of life was threatened to be altered by idiots unable to anticipate the consequences of their choices. Pardon me, but I’m not in the mood to listen to you bicker; while you argue and try to shift the blame, people are starving or dying or leaving our shore for better opportunities; and I don’t blame them if it’s the way you’re handling things. I don’t care about your petty feuds, do your job!”

This speech rang into everyone's mind; they were wasting time and they knew the longer time passed, the worse the situation would become. After some time, they all stopped bickering and started offering solutions to their current problems.

The different Lords and Ladies started talking:

"I propose that we offer some kind of incentive to get some businesses back up again."

"We also need to acknowledge that there's something wrong with some of our constituents' ideology. We're a laughingstock in the international community. The solution to squibbing was offered some time ago, but some of us didn't want to face reality."

"You're speaking about the genetic scanning charm of Sir Robinson?"

"Indeed."

Frank had heard about this charm, it was a great breakthrough in the medical field. Joseph Robinson who came up with this was acclaimed as a genius for its conception; he has stopped some family with bloodline from squibbing out. That is why the Longbottom scion was surprised when he saw one man from the Dark faction rise up from his seat and cry out, "No! This is a hoax!"

It was Madam Marchbanks who answered to the man’s outburst. The wizened old woman asked, "A hoax? Then why are all the magical enclaves adopting the spell?"

It was a fact that thousands of healers throughout the world were using the spell, a spell which has been checked by the unspeakables to see if it did exactly what it does: Check a patient for recessive gene disorders. These disorders can lead to calf abnormalities, miscarriages and stillbirths.

He couldn’t even defend his position and his only reply was, "T-they've been deceived! Right!?"

Frank rolled his eyes. "What a joke." He said out loud, gathering the attention of everyone.

He looked in the eyes of the simpering and clueless man. "So you refuse to acknowledge that genetics is a thing and that your children and their children’s children will lose magic or become diseased if you and other so-called purebloods continue to intermarry between yourselves? Despite clear proof of your belief being wrong being shown?"

The man tried to defend and justify himself. "We are not animals we, we’re humans and what this Robison man say is so close animal husbandry-"

This time it wasn’t Frank who interrupted him; it was Lord Greengrass who said in a cynical tone, "You've been living a lie, bloodline does play a role in magical might and family magic. However, that's the magic side of the equation, you forgot that we are creatures of flesh and bones as well, science and alchemy has shown us that genes play also an integral part in reproduction. Inbreeding is a problem which has been discussed and studied since the dawn of Atlantis, longer than any of your puny Dark Houses have existed. Therefore… no, it's not a hoax."

The more technically enlightened members of the Wizengamot nodded, mainly those who were known Unspeakables, Healers or in the potion business. Greengrass finished his takedown by questioning the man’s intelligence. "You should go to Saint Mungo to get yourself checked Ah, wait! You and your cronies outlawed the charms which could save you. I guess this is the end for your families, if your bloodline is  about to squib out or your heirs are sterile."

Fear etched onto everyone’s face from the dark and the light factions. A courageous and stuttering woman spoke, "I-I say… we lift the ban on Robinson's books and the medical spells he provided to save our lineages."

Another man agreed. "Yes, we should have adopted it from the start."

Frank was surprised that those people could learn after being shown how dumb they were. It seemed that their survival instincts weren’t completely gone. The Longbottom scion stood back up. "We need to do more than this. Why not hash out the details on how to resolve the food crisis?"

Markus Greengrass smiled at him; Frank realized that he was goaded into taking this position… he hoped to be back to his wife early tonight…