"I really don't see why I have to undergo a medical examination," Harry said in a slightly panicked tone.
This wasn't the first time Harry and Corvus had spoken about Harry's general health. Things were now better than ever before, and, in Harry's opinion, a full medical examination was unnecessary. But as the days wore on, and the New Year had begun, Harry had to face a physical examination.
"Harry, you will do well to show a little more decorum when Healer Hopson is here. We have a really tight schedule if we want him to do all the necessary tests. "
Corvus spoke in his "I'm-in-the-Wizengamot-you-better-not-argue-with-me" voice. Harry rolled his eyes, he hated it when Corvus acted like that. This man became as stiff as a plank and suddenly acted like a dangerous, dark version of Lucius Malfoy. In short, he would act super 'pure-blood-ery' and would throw with threats like bloody Voldemort (which he could certainly live up to).
"Pure-blood-ery is not a word, Mr. Potter," said Corvus with a little twinkle in his eye.
"It is a good thing that I had no intention of saying that. Truly, if I didn't have to undergo an examination in..." he casually threw a Tempus into the air, " .. twenty minutes, I wouldn't be talking nonsense!" Harry dropped dramatically on the couch and spread his legs on the furniture.
Corvus let out a dark, rich laugh, one of the kinds of laughter Harry had grown to love. Corvus was a man who liked to be in control, even when he teased. A carefree, rich smile was therefore a rare event.
"You remind me of Rabastan when he was a little boy. I remember when he had to get his inoculation against the Dragon Pox. At home, the boy had already done some tricks, but his behavior in St. Mungo was the worst. He pretended to pass out several times, and at the sight of a needle, he fell over again. He hadn't thought, however, that the medi-witch, who was going to set the syringe, would find it useful that he lied so still. During his third "attack" he was vaccinated, he hadn't noticed anything."
Corvus looked sharply at Harry and added, "My point is, you're bothering about nothing. Just give this old man some peace of mind, you know what stress can do at my age."
Harry now gave a loud snort, he had seen Corvus doing pushups and abdominal exercises yesterday. Corvus might be in better shape than Harry himself. That stress would probably only cost him some breathing exercises ... so he wouldn't strangle Harry or whatever.
Harry took the official list that Corvus had compiled with Healer Hopson and pointed to the list again. "But Corvus!! Is it really necessary to have a list of old injuries?"
Corvus raised his eyebrow. "Considering that your 'victims' are dying or are at least weakened by injuries they inflicted on you, I think it would be useful to map out."
Harry chugged, knowing he shouldn't have picked that point to whine about. Corvus had already discussed that point at length.
"But is it really necessary to do an "Inheritance" test? I thought the Goblins were only about money?"
"Perhaps that is also a wise thing to do, maybe sometime in the second week?" Corvus said to himself, tapping his lip with his finger.
"But no, Mr. Potter, this test is medical in nature. By testing with your blood, certain magical abnormalities will be mapped. I expect your meeting with the Dementors left a mark. If you've ever been drugged, this will show up as well. It also falls back into your blood, as in your family tree. Certain magic occurs only within a certain family, or a certain affection for certain magic. For example, the Potters are known for their affinity for Transfiguration and Potions, sometimes this is so strongly represented in a person that this is reflected in the test."
Harry made a defeated movement with his arms. Corvus had a solid answer for everything. He watched the last test, also the shortest (it was only scheduled for ten minutes), a Carrier Test.
"Corvus, what exactly is a 'Carrier Test'? I haven't paid any attention to it so far because it seems like such an insignificant test because of its duration. But... what is it? "
Corvus waved the question away. "Oh, that's a typical 'pure-blood-ery' test," he said with a wink. "Don't worry about it, the test is done in no time."
The arrival of Glinda, the main elf of Corvus, interrupted the conversation.
"Master Lestrange, there are visitors for you. Healer Hopson is here."
"Ah, thank you Glinda, escort Healer Hopson to the sitting room, I have already made arrangements for Master Harry's examination. Tell him we'll follow in a few moments. "
"Of course, Master Lestrange." the elf bowed and disappeared with a soft plop.
Corvus turned to Harry with a triumphant smile. "So, shall we?"
Harry muttered something unintelligible but followed the man nonetheless. He was going to take those stupid tests, but he won't like it.
***
It had been more than half an hour since Healer Hopson and Corvus had disappeared. Well disappeared... they were in the other room. Harry was impatiently waiting for the results of his tests. The tests themselves were not too bad. There was no pain involved. Nor had he had to undress down to his underwear. Most of the testing was done with magic, and the rest was with blood.
Healer Hopkins first went to see the results himself. The man was very professional and stated that he could only give sound advice if he could examine the data given. After an hour he had fetched Corvus. Harry had agreed in advance that Corvus could play a leading role in any treatment. Corvus would keep a meticulous file on Harry and all the setups. Harry trusted the man and knew he could see all the details when asked.
After forty minutes, the door opened and Corvus and Healer Hopson re-entered. The pair looked tense so that a discussion had just taken place. Corvus sat down on the sofa next to Harry, Healer Hopson sat opposite them on the chair. Between them was a small side table, on which Healer Hopson placed the papers of Harry's research.
"Mr. Potter, we have a lot to discuss. Let me emphasize that we do not see a need for treatment at this time. You do need to get all your vaccinations, you did not have these as a child. Today you will have the first three and after three months the last vaccinations. You are otherwise healthy, young and your magic is flourishing. Well, let's start with your inheritance test."
He handed Harry a piece of parchment with a list on it. He quickly took note, some things had been underlined.
Inheritance Test Results of Harry James Potter-Black, 2nd January 1996
Abilities
Parselmouth
Parselmagic
Soulmagic
Affinities
Parselmagic
Soulmagic
Necromancy
Magical Residue
Ripped Soul
Basilisk Venom
Phoenix Tears
Touch of Death
Taken Souls
Potions
Pepperup Potion
Blood Replenisher
Antidote to Common Venom
Skele-Gro
Dreamless Sleep
Amortensia
Compulsions or Curses
None found
"Let me start with the 'Abilities' and 'Affinities'. I will not discuss this further, noble families like the Lestranges often want to know this, but it is not important for general health. It is striking that within these two categories your magic is predominantly "dark", I have made a note of this in your file. I have two reasons for this."
"Reason one is that it may be important for your treatment, especially in times of life or death it is important to approach the magic for which the patient has the greatest affinity. In your case, Mr. Potter, for example, I would rather treat you with methods of Endre Sötét, a well-known Hungarian Healer, than our own usual treatments. Healer Sötét followed his training at Durmstrang and combined his training as a Healer with the Master's program of BloodMagic. This has resulted in major breakthroughs in my profession, but is particularly suitable for witches and wizards with a Dark Affinity."
"The second reason is that it can help us locate and identify your injury. These are just statistics, Mr. Potter. We see more dark-affinity patients coming in with obscure septicemia than light-affinity patients. As I said, this is purely statistics. But very helpful in our research."
Healer Hopson briefly checked the result and did so in silence. The man looked pointedly at Corvus at one point, and Hopson continued with a nod of his head.
"The underlined topics are important. We found quite a bit of magical residue in your blood. Some can be explained, others are not. By the way, I would like to point out that I cannot purify you from this residue. It is part of you. Some will disappear with age, others will be more prominent in your blood."
"Let's go from oldest to youngest deviation. The ... 'Torn Soul'. You have carried this with you since the death of your parents. My results are admittedly not accurate to the day, but Lord Lestrange and I were able to deduce this from the given year. We do not know the nature of this 'sliver of soul.' I have been able to determine that it is dormant, and there is no indication that this will change."
Harry looked at the man in shock. A torn soul was inside him. Apart from his own soul. He had just read it, but to hear it was a different story.
"This soul, has this ... thing ... changed me?" Harry asked timidly.
"I and Lord Lestrange discussed this, but we don't think so. The soul is dormant, not active. Moreover, I could not find anything in your abilities that could indicate the intervention of this soul."
Harry looked at his abilities. He found his Parselmouth ability well-known, but striking. Nobody expected that from him when they found out at school.
"I have known for years that I am a Parselmouth, but is that something I could have obtained through an event? For example at the hands of the Dark Lord?"
If this question caused concern for the Healer, then he hid it well. He didn't flinch at the question.
"I can say with certainty that it is not possible, by any transfer, to become a Parselmouth. The reason is very simple. To be able to speak with serpents, a deformation of the mouth is necessary. Parselmouths have a 'looser' tongue, which is much more agile than normal humans. As a result, the language cannot be learned, wizards like me cannot make the sounds physically. The literature is very vague about the anatomy of Parselmouths, but it is unambiguous about the basis: you must be born with the right attributes, otherwise, you cannot read, speak or understand the language."
Harry looked intently at the ground. His ears were ringing. For years he had believed that the ability to talk to snakes was something he had acquired from Voldemort. But this turned out not to be the case at all! He went back to conversations he'd had with Professor Dumbledore. He was not exactly sure what Dumbledore had said about his Parselmouth abilities, but he was sure the Headmaster had suggested that the quality was not his.
"If you have no further questions, I would like to continue with the next point, namely: Basilisk Venom. How did this get into your system, Mr. Potter? The reason why I am asking this is quite urgent. You still have an alarmingly high concentration of venom in your blood. I would almost say that your blood is poisonous."
"I got bitten by a Basilisk at the end of my sophomore year at Hogwarts." Harry gave no further explanation, he did not want to elaborate further. Harry allowed Corvus to know everything, but he did not know this Healer and would not trust him with his life story.
"Phoenix tears were administered immediately after this bite?" the Healer asked without looking up from his notes.
Harry thought of the dramatic scene with Fawkes and how he managed to heal Harry just in time. "That's right." was all he said about it.
"Good, the next point then. Touch of Death. Any idea what that could be?"
Harry had an idea about this, but he didn't know if it was wise to share it with the Healer. He looked questioningly at Corvus, who briefly shook "no".
"No idea. Perhaps from the Triwizard Tournament?"
Harry heard only the scribbling of a quill on parchment. Harry noticed that the Healer was only loose-lipped if Harry was too. He thought it was fine, Corvus would later elaborate on the findings with Harry.
"Souls Taken, then. I have to admit that I have not encountered this in practice, as in theory. Lord Lestrange was unable to tell me anything about this finding, perhaps you could...?"
Harry shook his head in the negative. "Your question is as good as mine. I know nothing about souls and magic myself. Ask me in a few years, maybe I will know more about Soulmagic." Harry said half-jokingly.
Harry was now telling the truth. He really didn't know anything about "Souls Taken" whatever that was. He thought it sounded especially ominous, like something Lord Voldemort would know about. For a moment he considered writing a letter to Voldemort. Perhaps the man had tips and tricks, he thought with a crooked grin.
"Hmm Soulmagic, indeed." was all the Healer let go.
The Healer continued to write in his report for a short while, but he quickly sighed and dropped his quill.
"Then we have now arrived at the last point: Potions. Every potion can be explained with your medical history. I've also had access to the reports at Hogwarts, and I don't see any abnormalities. The only Potion that stands out is the Amortentia. It has also been administered very recently, no more than one to six months ago. Did you notice any of that, moments of complete surrender, which you later regretted?"
Harry thought about the past few months, but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. He had not suddenly started a relationship. For a moment he thought about the time in the summer with Ginny, and the times when she wanted to be found under the mistletoe with him. Those moments were mostly uncomfortable, they had not been moments of lust or love.
"No, not that I know. But would I notice anything?" Harry wondered aloud.
"The Amortentia has lost its potential by now, if it had worked well, you would certainly have had certain moments in your memory that would be experienced as a daze. An intoxication of extreme happiness, love, and lust." For a moment the Healer looked at the Ouroboros on Harry's wrist. He then looked at Corvus.
"Strong spells on a courting bracelet are in some cases enough to protect against Amortentia. Perhaps this is another example of the great advantage of the old traditions." Healer Hopson said to Corvus.
"Indeed," said Corvus with a stern face.
Healer Hopson turned to Harry and said, "I cannot determine to whom the drink was keyed, I can only advise against taking that bracelet off for the time being."
"Not that I can," Harry muttered under his breath.
"I can also be brief about the rest of the research. You are healthy, but you still have some scar tissue on your body, you can possibly treat this with better scar ointments. Furthermore, there is nothing physically wrong with you."
Harry had already expected this, he had been feeling very good for weeks. In fact, he was already forming muscle tissue and was slowly starting to get visible abs.
"And the Carrier Test?" Harry asked finally, thinking about that obscure test.
"Your family will be happy to hear that you tested positive." Healer Hopson said in a neutral tone.
He gathered up the papers and duplicated them. His own file was light green in color, with the mark of St. Mungo's on it. He gave Corvus a white version, also with the mark of St. Mungo's on it, but all papers also bore his personal mark as a Healer. Harry noticed that the test result as Carrier was an additional document, which looked official: it also bore the marks of St. Mungos and the Healer, but also had the seal of a certain Potioneer. Harry put that piece of information away and decided to ask Corvus about it later.
"Then we conclude our current research with this. If your abilities change, or if certain values in your blood become toxins, I would like to hear from you."
Healer Hopson stood up and gave Harry and Corvus a polite bow. "Mr. Potter, Lord Lestrange, it has been an honor to do business with you.
Corvus returned a polite bow and said, "Thank you for the inquiry. When you leave, there is a nondisclosure agreement waiting for you, it is the standard document. You will find nothing wrong with it. Glinda will walk with you, have a nice day."
The Healer walked several steps next to the house-elf and left the room.
When they were alone, Harry asked Corvus, "Corvus, what's the difference between Ability and Affinity? I think they are very similar. "
"An ability is an already developed gift. In your case, you have already spoken to snakes and apparently used Parselmagic as well. By the way, this doesn't have to be much, it can be something as easy as opening a door or floating a feather. My expectation is that you use Soulmagic with your newest gift, we already know that you draw power from your... volunteers. Soulmagic, however, entails even more, and you would be able to develop even further."
"It is very clear that the affinity for Necromancy has not yet been touched as a study subject. This is clearly not related to your collision with the Dementors, but may be traced back to the Potter family tree. I thought of your connection with the Peverell family. This family is known for its affinity with Necromancy. My expectation is that you are lucky to have acquired this gift from the Peverell's."
Harry thought for a moment about the answers he had received from Corvus. He knew that his conclusions were correct. He felt some excitement bubble in his stomach. He knew he must be averse to such heavy Dark talents, but he couldn't help but be curious. After all, he wanted to know more about the consequences of his collision with the Dementors. He was also curious about Necromancy. He had read that certain forms of Necromancy could be used for the growth of, for example, limbs and organs. He found the idea that he had a talent for that exciting.
"Why isn't this test done at Hogwarts? This made me think more about the future than all evenings talking about future professions put together. Isn't it much more convenient to see where your natural affinity lies than to choose something based on nothing but feeling?"
Harry felt a little indignant, if he had known this beforehand he would never have said he wanted to become Auror. Harry felt a little indignant, if he had known this beforehand he would never have said he wanted to become Auror. What he wanted to become was the question, but Auror sounded illogical to him now.
Corvus got up and padded Harry on the shoulder, laughing. "It would be priceless to take a test for every student. In addition, not every person will have an affinity or ability. Only the very clearly demonstrable cases are shown by the research. These investigations are often only done within noble families, we take the old traditions into account and value them. Your Affinities, Harry, wouldn't have benefited you at Hogwarts. Don't forget, they all fall under the Dark Arts."
Harry reluctantly had to admit that Corvus was right. If Hermione and Ron had seen his test results, they would have run off to Dumbledore screaming. In that respect he was happy to have new friends, Draco, Blaise and Theo would probably have been tested. He wondered what their talents were. He said goodnight to Corvus politely and quickly went to get a quill and parchment: he had Draco to write.
***
The next day, Corvus had to go back to the Ministry. There was a general session of the Wizengamot in which he was to participate. Harry found plenty of distraction in his homework, reading from the tomen of Corvus and of course, Jormy.
The small snake was notably present. Now that Harry had the house to himself, Jormy thought it was a good idea to explore the house. And by exploring the little snake meant eating a roasted frog in every possible room. The snake was insatiable, making a smacking sound in every room before flambéing a frog. Fortunately, the sight began to get used to, now Harry was fascinated by the eating behavior of his snake.
His homework was a different story. Harry preferred not to do that at all. However, he had seen his grades improve in the last few weeks, he was eager to continue this. He pictured Draco's disgruntled grimace if he hadn't properly written his Potion essay. If Harry had to choose an angry Draco or a happy Draco, he would always choose a happy version of his blond friend. Now that he was sleeping near Draco, Harry didn't want to think about the blonde's possible reprimands. Harry would never admit it openly, but Draco could be very scary when he was angry.
Reading about his tattoo was especially frustrating. Harry was now fed up with the whining of the young woman from the 16th century. Personally, he thought she was the stupid bint, she had been long overdue in tying herself to a mighty wizard. She also denied her own powers for a long time. Harry was the first to admit the powers were very obscure and dark and that he would rather have nothing to do with them, but he didn't deny them either. In fact, he was looking for good books on Soulmagic because he was convinced those books would help him further master the tattoo.
Not for the first time did Harry think of Voldemort. There was no doubt that the Dark Wizard would know more about Soul Magic and might be able to help Harry. The more he thought about it, the more frustrating he became.
With a soft pop, Bibi appeared beside him. For the past few days, his personal house elf had been a true gift. She seemed to sense Harry's mood flawlessly and always came up with options to improve his mood. Now she was standing next to him with a plate of fragrant macaroni. Harry took another look and smelled the dish.
"Bibi, my angel. Mac 'n Cheese! Thank you Morgana for the sweetest house elves on this planet. Thank you for this piece of paradise, this delicious comfort food." Harry took a bite and sighed appreciatively. "Ohhh, I really needed this."
The house-elf had blushed her cheeks from all of Harry's praises. "Bibi likes to do it for Master Harry. Bibi also gave Master Harry a glass of Butterbeer."
Harry looked appreciatively at the house-elf. "You really are an angel. If I ever have children, I hope that they would have a nanny just like you."
The elf gave a high-pitched scream of happiness and disappeared with a soft pop. Chuckling at the little creature's reaction, Harry ate his simple but delicious food. The Butterbeer tasted delicious with it and Harry became wonderfully warm inside.
About an hour after dinner, a weary Corvus walked in. He had already taken off his outer robes and was looking fairly casual. He slumped into a chair next to Harry and floated a glass of Firewhiskey toward him. Groaning, he took a sip from his glass, leaned back, and held the cold glass to his forehead.
Harry had to chuckle softly at his antics. Corvus had never looked so 'un-Lord-Lestrange-esque'. "Had a tough day?"
"Hmmmm, an unnecessary day." Corvus sighed deeply. "Dumbledore had scheduled a general session - I won't bore you with the details - but we ended up arguing all day. Minister Fudge wants to further discredit Dumbledore. He does this through cleverly placed comments. Dumbledore in turn is looking for support and members for his bird club."
"You mean the Order of the Phoenix," said Harry in a calm voice.
"Of course you have heard of that bird club," said Corvus with a sigh.
"If you want to hear my honest opinion, I can tell you that I think the Order is a club full of unguided missiles. It is like a plague of Doxys, they have one goal in mind as a group, but as soon as they fly loose they will fly in all directions. They are individually strong members, but as a group, they lack structure."
Corvus took another long sip of his whiskey. "They may be a group acting like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons *, but they are still a great risk. Dumbledore has not yet lost all his power, he still has his prestige."
Harry sighed, his relaxed feeling was all over. "Corvus? I have a question for you. It's something that's been on my mind for a while."
Corvus looked at Harry quizzically, "What is it?"
"Do you think it is possible for Voldemort to let me live? If I declare myself neutral, or .. or support the Dark Cause?" Harry swallowed hard, not knowing where to look.
Corvus looked intently at Harry and squeezed his hand. "You know that I am a follower of the Dark Lord. And you may also know that I used to be in his class." He grinned for a moment and put his glass on the table.
"I have also thought about the right course of action. Tom used to be a... strict boy. He strived for clear goals and would go to any length to reach this. He's still like that. Make no mistake Harry, you don't have much choice. You will have to choose between Dumbledore and the Dark Lord. I know that however you choose, you will lose a lot."
Corvus hugged Harry and ran a hand through his hair. "I'll help you Harry, and you have many friends who will do anything for you. You will see. "
Corvus got up and stretched. "I'm going to freshen up. When I come back, we will map out your tattoo."
***
"Shirt off."
As if hit by a 'Petrificus Totalus,' Harry stood frozen. He looked wide-eyed at Corvus as if the man had grown a second head.
Corvus showed his parchment and pencil. "You wanted to know more about your tattoo, didn't you? We are going to measure it, draw it and write down the Runes. I hope to learn more about the proportions of the tattoo."
With a sigh, Harry did as he was asked, there was no point in objecting anyway, he knew it was important for his future. He took off his shirt self-consciously. Even though his injuries were healed, and he had filled out nicely during his stay at Hogwarts, he still had many scars on his skin. The scars were silent witnesses to the Dursleys' abuse and the adventures at Hogwarts. Although he was not vain, he was very aware of his body and did not know how the older man would react to it.
As if Corvus could read his mind, he said, "You have the body of a warrior, Harry. I actually didn't expect the scars anymore ... But still ... Maybe it fits within the framework of my hypothesis. Well, I'm going to start measuring your tattoo."
Corvus pulled out a tape measure from his wand. The ribbon moved quickly across Harry's body. The findings were written down in numbers, but also in words. Harry heard Corvus mumble about the findings during the measurement. After a few minutes, Corvus looked up from his parchment and his findings.
"Okay, you almost have a full sleeve, Harry. That means that the tattoo runs over your entire arm, only your wrist and hand are free of marks. I recognize several marks on your arm, three of them start above the elbow, on your forearm, there are only ... scratches as if it is not finished yet." Corvus paused and traced the marks on Harry's upper arm.
"Yes, three marks on the arm. The tattoo continues across the chest and ends in the neck. On your back, I can see the start of new markings, but I just made a note of that, no measurements. The lines are still vague, I keep as a boundary that the lines must be continuous and black. The tattoo runs over your right breast but does not continue over your left breast. Your heart has not yet been touched. I don't know if it matters, but it is my observation."
"I recognize a number of Runes, the Ottastafur, and the Aegishjalmur. These mean: 'to put fear in the enemy' and the other is for 'protection and invincibility in battle'. One symbol really doesn't mean anything to me, I don't think it's a Rune either. The others will be easy to catalog, Rabastan has a cupboard full of Rune books, when recording we can mention the meaning."
Corvus picked up a new sheet, a sort of transparent parchment like the parchment had been thinned. "This sheet will ensure that I can draw it down to scale. I hope I can trace it. Finally, I make a quick sketch, so that I can draw the scale of your tattoo better."
Corvus immediately got to work. He started with Harry's right arm. The arm was covered with scratches and lines. Speckles were tattooed above the lines, they belonged to the tattoo but had no other function. Runes were drawn between the lines on an upper arm, they were all connected to the lines. The largest rune was situated on Harry's shoulder and was reminiscent of a sun or a flower. Next to the sun, an angular "p" was drawn. Like some sort of claim flag, as if the Rune had discovered and claimed new territory. The Runes were quite angular in shape, hard, straight lines that radiated power. Only the Ottastafur and Aegishjalmur were more rounded in shape.
After an hour, Corvus was done. The man sighed deeply and took a sip from his glass of water. "What an enormous thing." He said in a complaining tone. "The whole is not very elegant, Harry. The lines seem to run criss-cross over your body."
The man took the thin parchment to his desk, which was close to the warm hearth. Harry looked over Corvus's shoulder. Corvus pointed out a number of Runes.
"Do you see this Rune on your arm?" He pointed to a Rune that looked like some sort of angular capital letter "B". "This Rune stands for Healing. A fairly practical Rune, I think."
"I don't recognize the other Runes, but that doesn't say much," says Corvus with a wink. "I didn't think Runes was that interesting myself. I have always been more concerned with the legislation of the country, that is where my strengths lay."
Harry pointed his finger at a symbol tattooed on the center of his chest. It is a triangle with two lines underneath, one horizontal and one vertical. "And this symbol? This doesn't remind me of a Rune."
Corvus shrugged. "Doesn't mean anything to me, boy. But it must be important, it is on the oldest part of your mark."
The pair went back to Corvus's drawing. Now that the tattoo was traced, you could really see how big the tattoo was. Harry couldn't find the tattoo ugly, although the lines were playfully drawn across his skin, they did look mysterious. They also hid some old scars, and that was always positive in Harry's opinion.
Corvus was speculating with Harry: the oldest signs may have been to boot, his gift had only just been obtained then. The latest signs were new specifications, a sort of an improved alignment to Harry. Corvus, therefore, ordered Harry to make a list of dates tomorrow, when certain symbols appeared on his skin. Corvus hoped that would help him in his investigation.
The two were so absorbed in their work that they did not immediately realize that the fireplace was turning green. The flames began to flutter dangerously as if there was a change in the air. The fire finally began to crackle and a slight whooshing sound could be heard. Surprised, Harry and Corvus looked up from their work and turned their heads towards the hearth.
They were just in time to see two people coming through the fireplace. The man and woman stepped out of the fireplace arm in arm, as if they were supporting each other. They wore rags, gray tattered uniforms. A number was visible on each uniform.
However, Harry didn't need an identification number to recognize the pair: they were Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange.
Corvus let out a cry of surprise. He walked over to his son and daughter-in-law with open arms and took them in his arms. The sight would have warmed Harry's heart had it not been for the boy's confusion and fear. He was the one who had "defeated" their lord and master, he did not know how they would react to his presence.
Corvus had placed his hands tenderly on Rodolphus' cheeks, and with tears in his eyes, he asked, "How are you here? Where is Basty?"
Rodolphus did not have time to answer, however, for the hearth began to rustle again. The green flames danced in the wind and seemed to hypnotize Harry. He stood anxiously looking at the crackling green fire. There was a soft thud and a dark figure stepped out of the fireplace.
The man was also dressed in a gray Azkaban uniform. He had long, curly, dark brown hair. His stature was slim, perhaps a little too thin, but more formed than his older brother. The dark eyes wandered through space, over the figures of Corvus, Rodolphus, and Bellatrix, until they arrived at Harry. The dark eyes widened in surprise until they sparkled with recognition. A sardonic smile graced his face.
Harry wanted to look away, but couldn't. His cheeks flushed with the intensity of Rabastan's gaze. Uncertainly, he stepped back but got stuck against the large desk. He sucked in a breath of air and looked at the intimidating man in alarm.
Rabastan grinned wolfishly and walked toward Harry with self-confident steps.
"Well do you ever." Rabastan purred in Harry's ear. "If I had known I would be greeted by such an attractive sight, I would have escaped from Azkaban sooner."