Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ McGill ❯ A Garden Party ( Chapter 5 )

CHAPTER FIVE: Garden Party

July 7, 1991
Number 4 Privet Drive
1:29 pm

Petunia Dursley fluttered around the yard making sure everything was perfect. She felt a twinge that the Freak wasn't here. Then she could have made him do all the difficult work, while she put the finishing touches on it but wasn't just like a loathsome Freak to run off. The one time it would actually have been useful! Sighing, she checked to make sure that her hair was still perfect. She couldn't worry about the Freak today, and she had worried what to do with it this year, especially after hearing the new. She smiled at the tables placed around her perfect yard. For the first time, she was to have the neighborhood Garden Party. Of course, she chose the same day and time as the Queen, long may she reign. There would be no television of course, but a nice discreet radio with coverage of the queen's party, yes that would be perfect. A long buffet table with watercress and cucumber sandwiches, a record player with soft melodies, and in the corner there was a croquet set ready to be used. Perfect.

There was her Duddy, all dressed up like a Proper Gentleman, and Vernon would be coming soon with his boss. It was going to go so splendidly!

Dayn popped into the space under the hedge quietly. Moving invisibly over to the table, she hopped up and inspected it. Two pots of hot tea and a pitcher of cold tea. Master Snape said it didn't matter but to be careful. The pots will be getting eight drops but the pitcher will get 13 and to stir them well. Carefully Dayn measured out the potion. Theys would be paying for their cruelty. Master promises they would.

Outside #4 Privet Drive
3:19 pm

Alistair Lockingen sat impatiently in the car. He kept glancing at his watch. In the car in front of him sat two cops, from the social department. His partner drummed their fingers impatiently.

"Alis, how much longer?!" Inspector Gabriel Horn asked.

"Not much, they said they'd be here. McGill promised."

A tap on the back windshield made they both jump. Carmus McGill was sitting on the boot of the car. Alistair shook his head and got out. Gabe crawled out the other side. Together they approached McGill and his companion.

"Alis, this must be Inspector Horn. How do you do? This is my Sev Snape. He's a science teacher at the school, I'm sending Harry to. Everyone ready?"

"We've been waiting on you!"

"Piss piss piss piss!" Carmus shook his head, "I'm here now. Let's go. Oy! Bobs, make sure you have the big boy cuffs, Vernon is the size of a grown and half walrus!"

Alistair laughed. "Come on, yer always in a mood when we go to rescue children."

"Rescue nothing, I've already taken him, couldn't leave him here, thought he'd be killed for sure by the time I came back. Not to mention, I knew the kid's parents. Oh, we weren't friends at school but they were schoolmates, can't leave him. And, he was never supposed to be here anyway. His parents wanted nothing to do with them, left their son, in their will to others to care for. Under no circumstances was he to go to these people. Ah well, at least he starts at my alma mater this year. So try to get the trial before last week of August."

Horn shook his head and looked at his partner. "Alis… you work with this guy?"

Alis cocked his head to the side as he heard the music from the backyards. "They're having a garden party, oh man, you really hate them. Let's go."

Together the six men stepped over the hedge and into the backyard. Carmus held his friend back and pointed out the three Dursleys while he looked for Dayn. She nodded to her Master and disappeared into the hedge again. Handing Alistair a transcript of the recording, he led him over. Petunia was holding court with several ladies and a few gentlemen by the radio. Gabriel moved over quickly and shut it off, causing several people to make noise. Petunia turned around and rearranged her face into a supposedly welcoming smile.

"May I help you?"

Alistair looked at her and handed the transcript to Horn, who had pulled out a mini digital video recorder.

"Are you Mrs. Petunia Dursley neé Evans of #4 Privet Drive?"

"Yes, I am, officer." Petunia darted looks to the side. Perhaps the Freak had died and they came to give her the good news.

"Are you the guardian of one Harry Potter, son of Lily Evans Potter and James Potter?"

"To my great misfortune, yes!"

Eyes opened wider as people moved closer to hear what was going on.

"Good. Is it true that you placed your nephew in a storage closet under the stairs for days on end without food or water."

"Yes, it deserved it. It's so unnatural! That thing masquerading as a child. I don't know why my useless pathetic sister spawned such a beast."

One of the ladies beside Petunia, a rather obese woman with a bull dog on his lap, laughed. "Well Petunia, if there's something wrong with the bitch, something is wrong with the pup. Bad blood will out! If your sister hadn't been a drunk, perhaps the child would have been okay except that she married that druggie Potter! Best they had that car crash, eh? Then the whelp might have siblings!"

Several of the neighbors laughed.

Severus Snape swelled. "I see, perhaps that's why her son looks like the cross between a nag and a walrus, because of his parents." Turning to Horn and Alistair, he spoke clearly. "Lily Evans Potter was no drunk, she was a respected Language Studies teacher at St. Howard's School for Exceptional Children, where I too teach. She taught several languages. Her husband, though I really have no use for an arrogant prat like him, was a respected officer in the Scotland Yard Special Circumstances Counter Terrorism Task Force. Once Lily found out she was pregnant with Harry, she wouldn't even have a sip of champagne. They were murdered by a group that Potter had been tracking. They were awarded Heroes of the Realm, Posthumous."

Horn started. "I see, then this child should have been made a ward of the state first. Her Majesty is always interested in the children left behind of those who are Heroes. Alistair…"

"I know, Gabe. The Queen will take a royal interest in this case. Petunia Dursley, is it true that you once burned six year old Harry's hand on the stove."

"One must correct Freak s when they don't do their job right. It had burned my sweet little Dudders' bacon. It was too crispy, we had to throw it away, then the Freak had the nerve to try to take out of the trash and eat it. As if I would want to waste money or food on it. I fed it enough to keep it alive, that's all I need to!"

Marge Dursley laughed and snorted. "Too bad it ran away, Ripper here wanted to bite the freak again. Wasn't it fun, Petunia when it chased up the tree four years ago?"

The cops looked at the two women with disgust on their faces. Vernon Dursley was pushing his way through and drew himself up with humph.

"What is all this business about the Freak, did it finally do something right and die? If so, just throw the thing in the garbage, we don't want it."

"Die, Mr. Dursley? Did you want your nephew to die? Is that why you beat him until he bled?"

"Death's too good for the thing. It refused to die. Oh it'd disobey or not finish it's chores and no matter how much I beat him, it'd still be rude. It would bleed on our floors, don't know why we had to support the Freak, don't they understand it cost money. Oh, we saved some money by giving him Dudleys' old clothes. They only gave us a thousand pounds a month for the brat, how are we supposed to live on that? It was barely enough to give Marge something to buy her kennel!"

Gabriel closed the video recorder. Jumping up on the closest table, she addressed the crowd. "ENOUGH! You have all said quite enough. Officers, please arrest Mr. Dursley, Mrs. Dursley, and Ms. Dursley. Charges are child abuse, child endangerment, neglect, attempted murder, and any other charges we can make stick. Separate charges per incident. And for the rest of this… so called neighborhood. You haven't said near enough. That we have such people in such an ordinary place like this. You aren't suffering, you aren't poor, you aren't packed into sardine can apartments. You are the so called ordinary people who represent Britian. Our Queen is so ashamed of all of you. That you would do nothing for this child. No matter if his parents had been the people you were told, to punish a child for their parents, is against all we are taught. Worse, you saw him beaten, cold, starving, and abused. You did nothing. If I could bring up charges against all of you, I would. You disgust me. You disgust us. You should disgust yourselves, and I know that Her Majesty will be furious with your cowardice. Go now, this party is ended."

All three of the adult Dursleys were handcuffed and waiting by the buffet table. One of the cops had the camera trained on them.

Petunia cried despite her husband trying to comfort her. Turning to him, she wailed. "That Freak ruined my Garden Party!"

Alistair stared at her and rolled his eyes.

8:27 pm

Severus Snape hated some Muggles. These were worse than most. Horn had left with the Dursleys and Lockingen had just sent the small whale off to the orphanage. Now, people were going the entire house. What they found in the basement was enough. It was people like this that made him think that the Dark Lord had the right idea.

Severus waited as the authorities finished up their investigation. Alistair came over to him and handed him the keys. He murmured something and turned to leave.

"Lockingen, you may want to see this." Severus' face stretched into a terse smile. Slowly, he walked to the house next door. Number 2 was a corner lot, it had a nice large yard. Severus knocked briskly. Steps were heard approaching.

"Who is it?"

"Madam, I do not speak through doors, open this door now, or I will open it for you!"

A woman gasped. The door opened, the chain on the door. Alistair stepped up and showed his badge. "Madam, open the door, now."

The door slammed shut, they could hear her trying to take off the chain. Finally she managed and opened the door. Severus strode in as soon as the door opened. He stopped in the dining room. A man, obviously her husband sat at the head of the table. Two older couples, obviously the grandparents and three children were sitting at the dining room table. Severus glared at all of them. Alistair followed, perplexed. Severus dropped a thick folder onto the table in front of the father.

"Due to your reprehensible lack of humanity, on behalf of Harry Potter, who due to the simple fact that James Potter bought this house and the house next door out of the kindess of his heart so that the sisters did not have to be separated, I come bearing news As an agent of Mr. Potter, you owe him much. Think for a moment, if Harry Potter had been killed by those disgusting relatives, they would have inherited your home.

"Imagine what Dursley would have done to you. That folder contains a record of all correspondence the Potter estate has sent you. You were informed of Lily's death and that it was passed to her son. When you learned that Harry Potter was abused, did you ever think to help him, even if you did not care about him, did you care about your home?!

"Your rent is now doubled. The estate will no longer pay for landscaping nor an alarm system. If you leave before your lease is up, we can charge you 130% of the rent until your lease is over, or the house is rented and believe me, no one will want to live on this street. Nor will anyone rent to you, once you admit to having lived on this street. I believe your lease has another eight years to go?

"Goodbye." Severus turned, a smirk playing on his lips. He glanced at Alistair and beckoned him to leave. As they approached the door, Severus began to chuckle darkly. Alistair's eyes were sparkling. As soon as he got into the car, he started laughing. Severus nodded and disapparated. Alistair looked at the little bottle that Snape had given him earlier and the instructions. He loved wizards.

Carmus closed his eyes, he knew what was about to happen. Sure enough a couple seconds later, a muffled explosion ripped through the room. Simon sat on the ground, orange dust all over his face and hair. He stared at Carmus who was trying not to laugh. Throwing a pissed off glance at his dad, he stormed out the room and ran into a dark wall. Bouncing off and almost falling again, he held onto Severus' shirt. A jingle sounded as a set of keys fell to the ground. Severus held onto Simon's upper arm. One long pale finger swept through the orange dust. Severus brought it up to his nose and rubbed it. "Tiger's eye and powdered willow bark. You did remember to take it off the flame before adding orris juice, right?"

"No, sir. Sorry."

"Go clean up, don't use anything with cucumber in it nor cinnamon." Snape counseled.

"Thank you, sir. You dropped your keys."

Snape smiled and picked them up. "Hurry before it starts to itch.

Simon laughed and ran off. Snape entered the laboratory and tossed the keys to Carmus.

Carmus laughed, "So?"

"They are in jail and no one is able or willing to bail them out, the Pearsons at #2 were horrendously embarrassed in front of their kids and parents. The whale calf is in a home. Simon saw the keys but apparently did not recognize them. Alistair's contacts have agreed to clip stories and record them."

"Good. Want to help me clean up, then?"

Snape pulled out his wand and banished all the debris. Sitting on the table next to his friend, "No."

Carmus smiled, sometimes just sitting was good too.

Buckingham Palace
4:49 PM

Elizabeth, second of that name, sat at her dressing table before dinner. Picking up the folder she had been given that day. Opening it, she read through it quickly and sighed. Such fools she had in her kingdom. Perhaps now was the time to have the new child protection laws and punishments she wanted to be pushed through. Getting up, she slid on her dress and headed out the door. Entering the dining room, she nodded to her dinner guests. Stopping next to her son, she handed him the file. "Do handle this, Charles and perhaps we can get those protections put through."

"Yes, Mum." Prince Charles replied, before slipping the folder into his jacket.

Pleased, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, Second of the Name, Queen of Britannia went to her seat. She was mighty peckish.

July 7, 1991
3:37 pm

Andromeda Black Tonks stood before the floo and wondered how her sister, her ex-sister would behave. No matter what she thought of Andromeda, this was a matter of Blood. A matter of Family. The fire flared and Narcissa stepped through, her arms held out to show she held no wand at the ready. She moved aside and the fire flared twice more to throw out her husband and her son. Straightening up, she headed towards Narcissa.

"Narcissa, thank you for coming." Narcissa Malfoy stiffened and opened her mouth. Andromeda held up one regal hand. "Narci, you are my sister. No matter what the old hag of witch said, you are my sister. Blood of my blood, and you will not stop being my sister because of any declaration. I greet you as my sister. I am glad to meet my brother in law and nephew. We are here to discuss a matter of Blood and Family honor. Now, come into the sitting room, I have all the information set up there."

Andromeda turned and opened the door. Lucius Malfoy's eye twitched minutely and he waved his son and wife through. As a gentleman, he let Andromeda go through before leaving the fire room. He closed the room door and stared at the woman. She walked with the sure grace of the Blacks, perhaps, just perhaps her mother was a little too quick to disown here. She did after all have a child who was a Metamorphagus which is a definite Black family trait.

Andromeda opened the sitting room door to show her husband and her daughter. As her sister and son moved past, she stepped in front of Lucius Malfoy. "Mr. Malfoy, no matter what, he is my husband and she is my daughter. I will not let you insult nor goad her. I may have been disowned but I am in my heart still a Black and I remember our true motto, Always True. Remember that, Mr. Malfoy."

Malfoy inclined his head and moved to sit next to his wife. He waited until Andromeda was seated and nodded. "You daughter is a klutz, some might say it's the Muggle blood warring with her witch nature."

Andromeda laughed. "Oh, I know it isn't that. It's simply that Nymphadora can't be still. If I had been a little harsher with her, I would have insisted she work more on her meditation. It's simply because she is confused. She's an Auror because she doesn't know what else to do. Her body grows at odd rates. One leg before the other, but then she is a metamorph, so that makes it harder. As she settles down, her clumsiness will fade. She's just young and it take time. Anything else?"

Lucius Malfoy nodded, "I see, now about your cousin, Sirius?"

Andromeda nodded, a twisted smile on her face, before heading into the room. Sitting down at the head of the table, she opened a folder and slid it over to Narcissa. Narcissa looked at the files. The wills, the financial records, the ministry files. Narcissa paled as she handed each page to her husband.

"I will never forgive Dumbledore for this cruelty." Narcissa seethed.

"I don't blame you, Mrs. Malfoy. I once asked Andy about the trial, she said that in the wizarding world the government can hold secret trials without notifying anyone. This is why the Muggle authorities are not allowed to do so. Oh, what they can do is tell us a trial is closed to the public but we know who is on trial and we know the charges. The files and transcripts are usually unsealed 10 years later. Not to mention, you have no right of petition. Fudge should have been impeached or at least have Questions." Ted Tonks explained.

"Questions, sir?" Draco asked.

Ted turned to the young Malfoy, "Call me Ted or Uncle Ted if you want. Yes, the Official Questions. It's a list of questions that is presented to the Queen in open session. She has to answer the questions. If only to say that she can't answer due to the Official Secrets Act, she has to give an answer."

Lucius nodded, "Yes, that would be a good idea."

Andromeda smiled and raised her eyebrow. "Some Muggles are good, just as some wizards are evil, Brother. My daughter is stronger than some of your associates. It's bad form to constantly inbreed. If I had married who my mother had selected for me, my children would barely be qualified for Hogwarts. Nymphadora received one of the highest scores in Defense as well as Arithromancy. Despite my mother disowning me, my daughter has inherited the Black Legacy. She is a metamorphagus, she can disassemble spells, and craft spells as well."

Narcissa drew in a breath. "Not all such marriages work well."

Nymphadora Tonks drew in a deep breath and let it out, "It's called hybrid vigor. The first generation of new blood causes a surge of strength. Mixing two people with hybrid vigor results in even stronger children. Purebloods have it wrong, Uncle. Very wrong. I'm stronger than most of my generation, not only that but one of the strongest wizards I know is a half blood.

"Severus Snape, did you think that Snape was a wizarding surname? What about Lily Potter, she was Muggle born and stronger than most. James Potter was strong too, can you imagine how strong Harry Potter is. He STOPPED the killing curse. Even if she helped to block to curse with her own power, have you ever hear of anyone mitigating or stopping the killing curse?

"Did you read the summary of Tom Riddle in that packet, he's a half-blood. Voldemort, the Dark Lord, is a half blood and he was incredibly powerful. I remember talking to Carmus McGill one day when he came by to work on helping Sirius, he said that he was sick of people doing the right thing the wrong way and I didn't know what he meant but now I do.

"Voldemort is right on some things. He was right that abandoned or abused wizarding children should be brought into the wizarding world and adopted. He's right that Muggles can be dangerous to us, they are so… smart, they are so many, and they have advanced incredibly. Yet, the wizarding world hasn't truly advanced in the past fifty years. Muggles can communicate across the world in seconds, we use owls. Muggles use guns and bombs to kill thousands. We are afraid of the killing curse. We are afraid of one curse that kills one person at a time while they have guns that can kill fifty people a second.

"We haven't advanced in good ways or bad. I remember Sirius had mirrors that were two way, but they were limited. A Muggle can use a cell phone to call anyone with a number. I believe that we should take what we can from Muggles, adapt it to our needs, learn to honor our past, and use them both to go into the future."

Ted looked at his daughter with a proud glow in his eyes. Andromeda smiled because she knew her daughter may not know how to walk across a room but she knew how to lay out an argument.

Andromeda turned to her sister, "Enough, blood politics. Now, Fudge has a press conference every year in the middle of Diagon Alley on July 31st. Dumbledore is always there to give us a report on the safety and wellbeing of the Boy Who Lived. We will confront them both at the press conference. Now, this next revelation, I will need your family oath not to reveal it until its due time. It will be a massive blow to Dumbledore which I know you want. Swear this to me, swear what I am to reveal, you shall not discuss until the news breaks, which we hope will be the end of the first week of school. Swear that you will not give the details to any, except he who this concerns, of what you shall hear until the one this concerns gives you leave to. Swear by the Malfoy family honor."

Lucius looked at his family. "By the honor of the Malfoy family, I, Lucius Malfoy give you my word that what we learn of next we shall not speak of save to those who know of this, nor to reveal any details until given leave to do so."

Andromeda nodded, "Thank you, Lucius. As you know, my cousin Sirius is Harry Potter's godfather. Albus Dumbledore placed Harry Potter with Lily's sister and her husband. They hate and fear Magic. They have abused, beaten, starved, and worked him to the bone for the past ten years. And Albus Dumbledore knew it."

Draco stared at them, "He lied, he said that Potter was fine. He said-"

Lucius slammed one hand on the table, "Where is the child now, Andromeda!?"

"Adopted, Adoptio Asylum. He now has a new family and a new name. We can not confront Dumbledore with this knowledge now, instead let him wonder what has happened when Potter is not on the train. The worry will be good for him."

"And how were these disgusting Muggle punished or were they protected from that by Dumbledore's patronage?"

Nymphadora snorted, "If you paid attention to the Muggle news, you would have seen that Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, guardians of a young boy named Harry, and Mr. Dursley's unmarried sister, Marge, were charged with numerous charges of child abuse, endangerment, torture, depraved indifference, and cruelty. Mr. Dursley has lost his well paying job as a district manager for Grunnings Tool and Die. Their house, which they were living in practically rent free, was a wedding gift from James Potter to Lily Evans. He bought two houses side by side so the sisters could live next to each other. They have been kicked out of the house. Their son, Dudley, was removed from their custody and now resides in a state home for children, an orphanage."

Lucius threw his head back and laughed.

July 9, 1991
Diagon Alley
Skints Apothecary

Simon sighed as Carmus took his time looking through potion ingredients. He was tired of potions. Ancient Runes seemed interesting, complex but interesting. Simon sighed. Carmus reached back and cuffed him softly.

"Simon, do tell me, exactly who was it who destroyed the ingredients Mn to Q?"

"You aren't ever going to let me forget that, are you, Dad?" Simon whined.

Carmus winced, "McGills don't whine and no, not today. Just a little while and we'll get most of your school shopping done today. I hate coming on August 1st."

Simon furrowed his brow. "Why August 1st?"

"Traditionally school shopping is done on the first of August. We'll get your wand on the first but I think we'll get your clothes today. Also some formal clothes, you'll need them for the balls and gatherings most people have during the summer."

"You mean I'll be able to get out the house? Really? Truly?" Simon eyes opened wide with amazement.

Carmus put the jar of dust back on the table and turned to face his son. "Such a wise ass you are. Should have beat you more as a child, I should have. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20."

Harry snorted. "Ha ha ha."

"McGills don't snort." Carmus spun Simon around and pushed him towards the register so they could pay for the potion ingredients. Wrapping an arm around his son's shoulder, Carmus led him towards Madame Malkin's Fine Robes for All Occasions.

Carmus opened the door and shoved Simon in, frowning. Grabbing Simon's ear, he leaned down to whisper in it. "You are a young lord. Don't look at me like that, even before, you were a young lord. He was the last of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter, and now you are my heir and young lord, so you will be getting clothes proper to your station. Stop arguing."

"Yes, Father." Simon refused to rub his ear as Carmus pointed him to a wooden box. It stood in from of three mirrors, they were angled to show him off at different perspectives. On the box next to him was a young man, about his age but several inches taller.

"Hullo, are you and your father out shopping for the season too? I hate doing it, but father says that it's tradition." The boy reached out a hand to shake, "I'm Draco Malfoy."

"Simon McGill, nice to meet you, Draco. Yeah, my dad says I need whole new wardrobe. So he's picking it out. I pointed out to him that at school I'll have a uniform, and when I'm not wearing it, why can't I wear jeans and a shirt. You should have seen his face. 'McGills don't look like slobs.' " Simon laughed.

"Well, that's true but if you are wearing jeans, someone might think you're a mudblood or something."

Simon's eyes hardened, "People can't choose how they are born, Malfoy. If they could, would you have chosen to be a prick?"

Draco gasped and glared at Simon, "Well at least I chose to be born with manners, you pillock."

"I rather have a brain to think things through than some jumped up snob's idea of nobility!"

Carmus turned around as he heard Simon's voice. Sighing, he stepped forward. One hand on each boy's shoulder, he shook them hard.

"Enough, what is going on here?"

"Indeed, Draco, what is going on?" A smooth voice asked from behind Carmus.

Carmus turned around and smiled at Lucius Malfoy. "Lucius, how are you? Have you seen Snape recently?"

"Carmus, delightful to see you again, we must talk. However, I have not see our friend lately."

"Okay. Now, look you two, whatever you are fighting over, get over it. I was hoping you would be friends. Considering that you two are godbrothers. So what happened?"

"Godbrothers? With this mudblood lover? Never!" Draco turned his head and raised his nose.

Carmus reached up and cuffed him. "Considering that your all powerful godfather is a halfblood, I would think he taught you something other than how to be a spoiled little brat."

"Godbrothers? You mean Snape is his godfather too? And here I thought Severus had taste." Simon sniped.

Carmus thumped the both of them and sighed. "Simon, tell me why you are upset at Draco. Be quiet, Draco."

"I mentioned that I like wearing a shirt and jeans sometimes, he called me a mudblood."

"I said someone might think you're a mudblood, you stupid berk." Draco waved his hand in Simon's face.

Lucius Malfoy looked at his son and raised his cane. Draco winced as the snake head on his father's cane hit him.

"Draco, if not for Carmus McGill, your cousin would not have been proved innocent. If that was not enough, you are speaking of things you know nothing of. Now apologize to your Godbrother." Lucius spoke in a low dangerous voice.

Carmus raised one eyebrow and pointed to Draco. Simon sighed, "I apologize for calling you a prick and a snob."

Draco took a deep breath. "I apologize as well. And I thank you for helping my cousin Sirius, Mr. McGill."

"It's okay, Draco. Just call me McGill. And yes, you are godbrothers. Lucius, can I ask you something? My father never told me because he never expected me to have children, but is it tradition or as ministry rule that children get their wands on August 1st?"

"Hmmm, tradition. So you will be back then?"

"Yes, now you two, try on those clothes, okay? Simon, Lucius has cultivated in Draco, a flair for clothing. Draco, he needs clothing for summer gatherings, Yule visits, formal gatherings, and school. Simon, we will buy you jeans in Ashton Mall. Buy things with room to grow. I need to speak to Lucius for a moment."

Simon and Draco nodded before turning to the clothes that their fathers had placed near them. Carmus leaned against the wall and looked at his old housemate, "Lucius, you aren't going to like this but we need to disintegrate Dumbledore's support base. Those are the Light families, like the Weasleys'. Pettigrew, as you know was hiding at their home. He was hiding as their family rat. The second thing Arthur asked when I let him know this was how we were going to trap him. The first thing was to tell me that however we trap him, he won't risk his family. He is just as loyal to his family as you are to yours. I want you to invite him to your August Garden Party. I know but think of it as paying him back for helping with proving Sirius' innocence."

Lucius' left eye started to twitch, "He is a Weasley."

"Yes, and by inviting him, it makes it seem that he is willing to ally or at like be associated with you. It will cause Dumbledore no end of fits. First, his payments to the Weasleys' get cut off. The Weasleys' don't complain, they say nothing. Dumbledore will see their silence as forgiveness, so he'll show up with money from his vaults and maybe a little more for the inconvenience. They'll use that of course, thank him coolly. Then during the Minister's annual 'Boy Who Lived' fest, we'll embarrass both of them by springing Pettigrew and the proof. It condemns Dumbledore but he's going to find out they've known since middle of June. Then to top it off, when Harry Potter doesn't show up, it will all be crumbling around his ears. After the first week, well the papers are going to get a small delivery all about Harry's guardians. Then… then we get nasty.

"If the Weasley's side with you, others of the Light will follow. You must realize that most of them don't know what the True Dark Wizards stand for, they only know what Dumbledore told them. That you all follow Voldemort and are all bigots. We know that we are not. We must show them what we truly are so that we bring them back to being true Wizards. We let them know they don't need to leave the Light just to be proud of their family and their ability to do magic. At the same time, you and the others can't sneer at them constantly. I know Nymphadora put a bug in your ear about what Muggleborns can teach us. Learn from it and we can unify a great majority of the wizarding world. Muggleborns are a gift to us, we drive them out, we should bring them in. Bring them in, let their minds work to improving our world, rather than the world they came from. We can't stop muggleborns from being born and killing them just decreases the amount of wizards in the world. Instead imagine it, Lucius, we show them the magical world, we wow them, we make them fall in love with it. We guide them, mentor them, we get their loyalty to us. Control, born not of fear but loyalty is always greater. After all, Lucius, how are you raising your son to be loyal to the family? Love or fear?

"It was what Dumbledore was going to do to Potter. Tell me Lucius, is Harry Potter a pureblood?"

"No, he's a halfblood." Lucius answered quickly.

"Why? His mother was a witch, his father was a wizard. She was muggleborn, but she was a witch. He's a pureblood wizard who was raised by Muggles. Horrid Muggles, Dumbledore's plan was simple. Abused child get rescued by a friendly happy groundskeeper, told he is special. Told that Slytherins are evil. Slytherins killed his family. Slytherins hate him. Slytherins tried to kill him. Whirlwind shopping trip, happy happy, kindly old grandfatherly wizard makes himself special to poor child. Smile and candy but make Harry do all the work. In the mean time, he's distracted by the fact that he's always looking over his shoulder to see if the Slytherins are trying to kill him. Sure that any evil plans come from the Slytherins instead of right in front of him. He must be a Gryffindor, his brave, noble, self-sacrificing parents were Gryffindor. Meanwhile a Light family scion will be there whispering how evil Slytherins are. He'll see him self as a muggleborn, so when the Slytherins spout off about pureblood pride and mudbloods, he'll see it as evil aimed at him.

"Dumbledore will spout house unity with one hand, and encourage hatred with the other. Do not, I repeat, do not screw yourselves beyond all reason, got me?"

Lucius nodded. "Perhaps, this bears thought."

"Yeah and we know how hard it is to get a new thought through all that empty space between your ears." Carmus laughed.

Lucius poked him hard in the chest. "You always were an insufferable brat. Fine, I will talk to my 'old crowd'. I will not promise anything but… perhaps we can make peace with the Weasleys."

"Lucius tell me, what is this feud with the Weasleys?"

"Two hundred years ago, the Malfoys and the Weasleys owned a business together. Import and Export of Rare Items. To bind the families together, we decided to trade brides. The marriages happened, years pass. Children were born, then the Weasley in question made a bad deal. Weasley decided to sell some items off the books. They wanted the partnership and the Malfoy in question loved his Weasley bride, so to allow peace in the family, he let it go unremarked. Weasley got greedy. He paid the price They were killed by the buyer. The authorities arrested the criminals who murdered the Weasley. A record was found that incriminated the Malfoy with the murder. He claimed it was not his fault. The Weasleys said it was. The Malfoys claimed that Weasley had been stealing for years but the Malfoys were willing to let it go as long as it was penny ante items. .

"In their arrogance, the Weasleys called down powerful magic. Old magic, blood magic, wild magic. They asked for justice. They got it. The magic stripped them of magic for two generations, their vaults were emptied except for one heritage vault that we refused. They lost their manor, they lost their business, and they lost their honor. They have never forgiven the Malfoy clan since."

Carmus nodded, "There would be records, yes?"

"What are you up to?" Lucius prodded.

"Putting rumors to bed, let's me check it out though, thank you. My ultimate plan is to destroy Dumbledore, so this is a start. Now go get your clotheshorse of a son away from mine before I go broke!" Carmus laughed and walked over to check on the boys.