Following the events of the same universe where Juliet Potter and Remus Lupin fell in love, the insouciance has faded into misery as all parties prepare for the war, willing to pull any card to win a war from which none will truly come out victoriou...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
September 1979
"This has got to be the sickest joke in the world's history." Sirius grumbled.
"Get over yourselves, you two. This is a serious matter." Lily scolded the two best friends.
"I still don't understand what your son would have to do with the circus or the last Horcrux or Severus Snape." Kingsley spoke up, Juliet nodding in agreement.
Albus decided to explain to them the situation. "Severus has been guiding us on the track of the search for the last Horcrux."
"Oh my fucking God." James commented.
"James, shut up." His sister glared. "Please, continue, Professor."
"He strongly believes it to be the most loyal of Voldemort's followers."
"Shit. He made a Horcrux out of a human? You can do that?" Peter exclaimed in horror, eyes wide.
"Not exactly, Peter." Albus shook his head.
McGonagall decided to clear it up for his students. "It appears, the Dark Lord possesses... a snake pet."
The whole room fell silent. All deadpanned, looked blankly at their old school Professors with an unfazed expression.
"The last Horcrux is a pet?" Marlene pinched the bridge of her nose, almost annoyed at the thought.
They all were. They've all wondered what historically important object or what other family heirloom in the Wizarding World could have been the bearer of a fragment of the Dark wizard's soul, and... it was a snake pet?
"She was not always as she is." Aberforth told the Order.
"Seriously, is it a family thing to explain things in the most confusing way? What the fuck does that mean, the snake wasn't always a snake? And it's a she?" Juliet frowned impatiently.
"Precisely, Miss Potter. Are you familiar with the term 'Maledictus'?" McGonagall asked.
"A Maledictus is a female that carries a blood curse that eventually turns her into a type of beast permanently. The curse is carried from birth and transmitted from mothers to daughters." Lily stated for the whole room.
"The snake is a Maledictus?" Remus raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Nagini was on our side during battles long before any of you were conceived. She was a friend when she had not turned into a beast yet." Aberforth told them, recalling his son's love for her.
"We were curious about the snake's behaviour early on." Albus declared, turning to the Potter twins. "Your mother tried to stop Voldemort many times, few of which she came very close to. But he was always back, always stronger. That was when the need for more inside information expressed itself."
"So you got Snape to join them." Frank raised an eyebrow.
"Severus discovered the concoction that was used to bring him back. A potion made of unicorn blood and the venom the snake provided him with."
"That's what you need to bring someone back to life? Just the two rarest ingredients? A Maledictus' venom and unicorn blood." Regulus sarcastically stated.
None of them had ever heard of it. Not even Lily. It was really unclear whether the venom of a snake sufficed or it specifically must have been from a Maledictus. But this wasn't a Potions class, and it was a detail that was far from important. Besides, if anyone knew about an arcane potion that calls for Maledictus snake venom, it was Dumbledore.
"Nagini underlines the Slytherin connection, which enhances Lord Voldemort's mystique. I think he is perhaps as fond of her as he is of anything. He certainly likes to keep her close."
"Then what was the point of attacking the Asia group?" Juliet asked. "If he keeps her with him at all times, there was no risk for him."
"And again, what's the link with the Circus Arcanus?" Amos butted in.
"There was a time when Nagini was a part of that circus. So was Aurelius. They were friends from then on and until my son was no longer." Aberforth explained to them shortly.
It was like a light bulb collectively appeared over everyone's heads as they started to understand.
"He must have thought we were looking for the Horcrux and that we were on a search for information about her." Remus realized.
There was only silence in the room as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place in everyone's minds.
"Is there no way for us to try and corrupt Nagini into joining us? You said she was a friend." Pandora asked them, the empathy she felt for the Maledictus showing.
"I fear not. I suspected the snake's essence to be divided - that she contained part of Voldemort's soul, and that was why she was so adept at doing his bidding." Albus told her.
"Why?"
"Because he seems to have an unusual amount of control over her, even for a Parselmouth."
"She must have felt so lonely."
"Imagine feeling so lonely that you want to be around a living nightmare." Sirius grimaced.
"That's not hard to believe, is it? James is around you all the time." Juliet teased.
"If the second she was turned into a beast permanently, there was no one by her side, then how hard is it really to believe that a part of her is loyal to him willingly?" Moody's statement got all heads to turn to him.
"That would bring up the whole question of a Maledictus' consciousness. We don't know if there's any part of her still in that snake. Either she's fully cognizant of her past or her human self is fully gone, and she thinks she's a regular snake."
"There is no conclusive evidence either way." McGonagall confirmed the Potter girl's statement.
"That's tragic." Lily said.
"There's no way of saving her or getting her to join us, then. If she doesn't know of her past, he's controlling her like he would any other snake. And if she is aware, she's either a willing ally or an unwilling tool controlled by Parseltongue, not to mention that she's a living bearer of Horcrux." Kingsley sighed.
"We will have to destroy her too when the time comes." James concluded.
"How can we even get close enough?" Peter questioned.
"We have no choice but to wait until it is time for the final battle." Juliet replied.
"What about the diadem?" Tonks asked.
"My mum told James all answers to our questions laid in Hogwarts. I believe she had suspicions about where it was."
"What's our final plan?" Amos asked his best friend.
"When we're ready, we go to Hogwarts, we retrieve and destroy the diadem and the locket to lure them in, and we kill the son of a bitch and his snake."
* * *
You know, I originally wanted to honor the HP series by having the war be on May 2nd of 1980, but... December of 1979 is starting to sound like music to my ears
Also here's a hint for the song: it's not a pop song, and not by Taylor Swift yall have til the end of the month to guess
