Last Time:
Severus glared at the sight of blood on the ground. Those drops disappeared before he could collect a sample most likely due to a cleaning spell, which concerned him. Who was listening and what did they hear?
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Draco glared down at his father, "Well? ... did you finish reading?"
"Yes." Lucius said sulkily.
"Really? Let's see." The young wizard's golden jackal familiar pounced on Lucius from out of nowhere and grabbed the cursed book. Lucius yelped half expecting to lose flesh because of the curse, but to his relief, his flesh was intact. "What did you do wrong?" Draco demanded much like an impatient mother scolding her child.
Lucius glared, "Why didn't you ask first?! You could've pulled my flesh off if I was wrong!"
"I'm well aware. Now answer." Draco said indifferently. The young blonde had every reason to be furious with his father's earlier rampage. Not only did he haphazardly storm through Hogwarts and put them at risk by ranting in a place Dumbledore oversees he also put Julian at risk. Draco personally wasn't sure about Tom, but he knew Julian wanted to protect him and accidentally giving Dumbledore any leeway puts Julian in danger. Draco refused to allow that.
"Ok." Lucius huffed a little hurt that his son was being mean and his wife snickering on the couch wasn't helping. "I was accusing a person who suffered a soul break of something he did during the negative state."
"What's the negative state?" Draco asked sounding a little like annoyed teacher quizzing a student.
Lucius shot Narcissa a sulky pout for giving a smug smirk, "The negative state is the state that comes after a break in the soul occurs. It describes the unstable nature of the magic and the inability to fully create new memories, which is why referred to as negative. After treatment you haven't gained anything from that state except a worse physical condition that could take weeks to recover from."
Draco nodded, "So if you lashed out at Tom instead of Severus you'd be hurting an innocent teenager who has no clue what you're talking about. Your dark lord is officially dead because Tom is alive. Understand? Are you going to go run amuck again?"
"No." Lucius said sulkily.
"Good. Come on, Sasha. We have the first meet for swim club to get to." Draco said and his familiar chased after him.
Narcissa smiled, "Is this the only summer meet before school or will they meet during the full moon right before school starts? With Sophia and Silvia on their honeymoon you won't have someone designated to make Pepper ups so you aren't exhausted for class the next morning."
Draco sighed, "Some people think it's too close to school, but our herbology professor, Kathy, stepped in for Silvia and Sophia so we can do that too. See you in a couple hours!"
Both parents waved as their son and his familiar flooed away, but once Draco was gone Lucius looked at Narcissa, "Tom?"
"Julian told him. While you were going around bothering Severus, Draco got a text from Julian saying Tom was scared, but otherwise alright and settling in ... we should get him something. What do you think? It should be something simple that might help him with school or just to calm down. A meditation orb?" Narcissa pondered.
Lucius gaped, "How does none of this bother you?!"
"It's a medical condition, Lucius. It wasn't him and I won't treat him like he was him. Now what does bother me is that we apparently spent 7 years in a school that had a giant basilisk in the basement." Narcissa said with a shiver.
"Huh?" Lucius said not comprehending what she meant.
Narcissa sighed and pulled out her phone, "Severus managed to get a picture after the chaos."
Lucius' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he looked at the picture on her phone, "THAT was in our school?! They'll kill it, right? It's dangerous!"
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"So there's absolutely no chance?" Cornelius asked Jasmine Fawn who was with him back in his office.
The leader of the Extraction Unit frowned, "None."
"I see ... thank you. I'll deal with this end." The Minister watched as the Extraction expert left his office before leaning back in his chair ...
Flashback
Cornelius bolted forward with his Aurors and the Extraction Unit to try and save the students the basilisk was about to attack. He made a mental note of the fact that someone other than Dumbledore essentially took charge of the chaos and panicking students. In fact, he could tell exactly who took charge by the distinctive smooth voice alone and technically this person wasn't even a staff member.
"All students stay back!" Severus yelled as he joined the mayhem and, with Sophia and Silvia's help, began creating a barrier to keep anymore students from getting caught in this and to prevent any spells from those trying to stop the snake from causing any injuries.
"Good." Cornelius breathed a sigh of relief knowing Severus was handling the other students and focused solely on those in danger. To his horror, however, the basilisk was far too fast.
"Stop!" Jasmine ordered sharply when the basilisk encircled its body around the students.
The Minister was baffled as to why the Extraction Unit pulled back, "What are you doing-"
"Persephone isn't attacking them! She's defending them!" The specialist yelled recognizing the protective and defensive actions from the serpent.
"What?" It didn't make sense to the Minister until he saw movement in the forest. "Acromantulas!" Not one, not two, but 8 massive acromantulas to be exact and they wouldn't have ambushed those students if not for the basilisk. However, strangely enough the giant spiders decided to advance on their natural serpentine enemy instead of running away. In fact, 6 of the giant 8 legged monsters were charging the castle! "Kill the Acromantulas! Get the students to safety!" The Hogwarts staff, and Severus, Silvia and Sophia, ushered everyone inside and the castle shut its own shutters and doors to protect those inside.
The Aurors and the Extraction unit spread out to take out each of the spiders. The two biggest launched themselves onto the basilisk's body, but it tightened its coils protectively and viciously snapped at the spiders. During the attack the blindfold came off and the deadly golden eyes of a basilisk were revealed, but nothing happened...
Flashback Over
"If that's the case ..." Cornelius pulled out an old file. It was Myrtle's file and he put a question mark next to the cause of death. There wasn't any proof, but maybe this will provide the opening he needs to stop Dumbledore.
"Excuse me, Minister." None other than Ruby Gro, Sirius' mind healer, said as she tapped on the open door.
"Hmm? Oh yes! Of course, Ruby! Have a seat! I'm sorry, I'm a bit distracted today." Cornelius said nearly forgetting that he had an appointment with her about Sirius.
Rudy chuckled, "With giant basilisks and acromantulas running around I'm not surprised." She said as she shut the door and sat down in front of his desk. "I've spoken to Remus Lupin. Sirius wasn't physically ready to talk, but I did get some disturbing insight. As promised I can't reveal anything that pertains directly to my patient, but I can tell you that Dumbledore is a problem. Despite knowing four of his students were running around with an invisibility cloak-"
"Wait ... an invisibility cloak?" Cornelius' eyes narrowed as he recalled picking up a cloak for Dumbledore. The old wizard seemed quite flustered when he took the cloak away. "Can Remus identify it?"
"It was James Potter's family heirloom so he probably will." Ruby said seriously. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking I just need to call someone to start an investigation that has been long overdue." The Minister said as he pulled a phone out of his pocket and dialed a number ...
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Brian chuckled as he watched Tom talk to Gloria. Julian thought it would be a good idea to have Tom meet the large reptilian familiar and it was a good idea. They all went to the river and had a picnic with Gloria.
"So you'll let me go to school at Legerdemain?" Tom asked curiously. He tried to not get his hopes up.
"Assuming you don't want to return to Hogwarts." Brian said, but frowned as Tom seemed unsure. The teen almost seemed a little scared to return to school at all. What exactly went on in Hogwarts? "If it helps you are a little behind in your schooling since Hogwarts has a very different teaching curriculum than Legerdemain so why don't I find a tutor to get you up to the level you should be first. You can be taught right on campus and join the other students for lunch to make friends. Would that be something you'd like to try?" Brian offered not wanting to push the teen after just getting his body back.
Tom's eyes lit up. That would give him a chance to see the difference between the schools and make a good decision, "I would love that, sir. What kinds of things do I need? I need to talk with my goblin and see if I even have a proper vault-"
"You do, actually!" Brian said surprising Tom. "There isn't a lot, but don't worry about that for now. You don't need a uniform or wand and you can use the textbooks at school so just relax and take this year to learn. Now I just need to think about who would be able to tutor you." The Headmaster pondered.
Julian smiled, "Hey Dad! Can't Tom help Kathy? I think I remember you saying she needed an assistance, right?"
Brian nodded thoughtfully, "I haven't been able to find her someone to give her a hand." He looked down at Tom. "Do you have any issues with bowtruckles or herbology?"
"Not at all!" Tom exclaimed excited for this chance.
"Good! I'll ask her-" Brian frowned as Tom was startled by the ring of his phone. "It's ok. It's just this." He said kindly as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed Tom. To put the baffled wizard at ease he answered and put the phone on speaker to show Tom what it did. "Hello Minister! You're on speaker so Tom and Julian can hear."
"That's perfect! Tom, how are you settling in?" Cornelius said already aware of the situation since the goblins contacted him. "Don't worry about any records or questions about your missing time. I'll handle everything on this end."
"Thank you, Minister." Tom said with a shy smile. "I'm settling in just fine. We were just discussing my education actually."
"Very good! ... there's something you should know. Now no was hurt and your dear basilisk friend was taken out of Hogwarts, but there was an odd incident that may have a devastating effect on Hogwarts' safety as a school. You said Persephone was mad and that's why her eyes were open, correct? Do you remember anything else?"
Tom took a deep breath to calm down, but it wasn't until Julian held his hand that he was ready to talk, "It has gotten a little clearer ... I was talking about some bullies and that's why she was mad. I was going ahead of Persephone down to go back before curfew and I looked out first, like always, to make sure no one was there. I swear I saw no one, but by the time I looked back in the tunnel, told Persephone it was safe and turned around there was Myrtle! I didn't stop Persephone in time and ... Myrtle saw. If anything it's my fault for letting Persephone out without knowing for sure that no one was there!" Tom choked on a sob and with Brian and Julian holding him he slowly calmed down enough to continue. "I saw Myrtle fall forward. After that the memory gets ... fuzzy?"
"I'm sorry for making you remember such a horrible memory. Can you describe what you mean by fuzzy? You seem unsure. I won't ask about any of this again." The Minister said genuinely sorry for putting the teen in this position.
Tom frowned, "Ummm ... it's clear, but they're are streaks ..." Tom trailed off trying to find the right word.a
Brian raised an eyebrow, "Could it be something like wrinkles?"
"Yes. That would fit better!" Tom exclaimed. "In that split second, before everything goes black and I wake up in Gringotts years later, I see clear wrinkles like a blanket and I could smell a slight lemon smell. Nothing will happen to Persephone, right?" Tom asked worriedly.
"Nothing will happen to her. In fact, she's being transferred to a reserve not far from you. Just let me explain a quick thing first. That incident I mentioned started when she broke away from the Extraction Unit and took off after some students. She knew, before anyone else, about some acromantulas that were waiting for her to leave and defended the students. During the fight with the acromantulas her blindfolded came off, but nothing happened."
"Nothing?" Tom asked very confused by what that meant.
"Tom ... after centuries in the Chamber her eyes became infected and weakened. She has no deadly gaze and hasn't for, according to the Extraction Unit, 200 years at least. The acromantulas realized she had no power when she came out and attacked, but everyone is fine ... though Hogwarts' safety is questionable now that her weakness is exposed and is no longer there."
Tom blinked, "but how did Myrtle ..." He trailed off weakly as the news sank in.
"Someone else killed her. I assure you, Tom, I'm investigating this. In fact, it's the reason I called. Brian, can you contact your goblins? I need to know about a Potter heirloom. Specifically, an invisibility cloak."