Harry Potter and the Bucket List

Year 5 - 10 (Rosier Raid)

Curious.

As we flew out there, I asked Tom if he had any thoughts.

Tom had to slightly raise his voice to be heard above the wind. The brooms came with some built in wind-dampening runes to make it easier for users to talk at high altitudes when flying. It helped a lot but it wasn't flawless. "Do you know why Ancient and Noble homes require maintenance?"

"I assume you're talking about more than the standard maintenance?" I guessed.

"If a Lord leaves an Ancient and Noble home left to rot they can face extremely hefty fines. The kind of fines that would even put a dent in the Malfoy fortune," said Tom.

My lips tugged down as my brow furrowed in thought. When I was younger, I did remember Sirius being thoroughly pissed that he had been named Lord Black and forced to inherit the Ancient and Noble home of Black. At the time I had simply thought it was because he hated his family name, but perhaps there could have been more to it?

At my perplexed expression, Tom continued, "Ancient and Noble homes tend to collect old magical artifacts. The longer magic resides in a home the stronger it can grow. Ancient and Noble homes tend to also carry a fair few of what would now be considered Dark artifacts—although it could have been perfectly legal to own them at the time. When Dark artifacts are isolated for a prolonged period of time it can have ill effect on the surrounding environment, doubly so if it is a magical environment. Perhaps a good example would be pyramid tombs?"

"Tombs—as in literally cursed mummy tombs?" I sought to clarify.

"Yes," he said. "If the home is left to its own devices for too long things can happen. Creatures born, or mutated into something far more sinister than the average witch or wizard can handle. When those things start to leave the home... I'm sure you understand. The Ministry then has to send in several teams of Cursebreakers and the family is given an extremely hefty fine."

Tom took a deep breath before continuing, "If the Rosier family is anything like I remember them being, their home would be riddled with Dark things. Perhaps it has become too dangerous for even the Lord to live there."

"Then why not clean it out?" I asked. "Paddy cleaned up the Black manor."

"It would be shameful to admit that the Ancient and Noble home of Rosier has deteriorated to such a point the Lord cannot handle it," he said. "There is only one living member of the family thus far?"

"Yes, Felix Rosier does not have a spouse or child," I confirmed. "His sister—the previous Lady—died a couple years ago. He sunk a lot of his fortune into protecting the manor as soon as he became Lord."

"Probably intended to let it rot under the wards like a time bomb," he mused. "He would be long dead by the time it set off and consequently not his problem."

"Huh. I picked this manor 'cause I thought it would be an easy start to test against strong wards and no one would be home, but looks like it might be pretty dangerous," I said, wondering what kind of Dark things we would find.

"Not so dangerous. There's no wards to stop a port-key from activating," he said. "And we've learned our lesson about portkeys."

Who knew portkeys could expire?

I sure didn't. That was why mine didn't work in the Triwizard Tournament. Super unfortunate time to learn, but it made for an unforgettable lesson. At least I survived the mistake.

"Yep. Got a new one refreshed and ready to go."

"There we go," he said. "No wards to Apparate out either."