Chapter Text
Amelia sighed as she watched Sirius slip into sleep. He was back in his animagus form; curled up in front of the fire, in the nest of blankets and cushions that she’d created for him.
She bounced her niece in her arms and sent a silent apology to her brother for leaving little Susan in the care of her nanny elf for most of the day.
She felt wrung out, both physically and emotionally.
Her day had started with the death of the Potters, and the defeat of the Dark Lord, and ended with the discovery of Dumbledore’s manipulations.
She hated Sirius’s plan… she hated everything about it, but she had to confess… it could work. She knew enough of Arcturus Black to know that it would be something that he would go for… that Sirius would have the perfect carrot to dangle from his stick. Whether the babe would truly be safe in the bosom of the House of Black would remain to be seen.
She hated it, but she also knew, very deep down that Sirius was right… Harry would never be safe within the reach of Dumbledore and blood adopting him into an Ancient and Noble House would end that threat.
And produce half a dozen new ones… Starting with Death Eaters. Bellatrix was still on the loose, Sirius was right about that… as was her husband and his twin… as was Lucius Malfoy…
Merlin… the dangers…
Sirius would be the heir… Sirius would outrank them… Harry would be protected.
The idea of Sirius adopting him as a bastard was a good one, believable even. It would look good for him too; a high-ranking male, standing up and doing his duty, giving up his job on the front lines to take up his position as an heir to a prestigious house and take accountability for the actions of his youth. No one could say anything if Arcturus personally accepted the babe. It had been done in the past… when an heir apparent was unlikely, but for the existence of a bastard. It wasn’t unprecedented, and even respected in some circles… it kept the house line unbroken at least.
Her own grandmother had been accepted as a bastard of the Ancient House of Montague… albeit, it had cost them a place within the Sacred Houses, but it had been accepted enough that she’d made a good match with Amelia’s grandfather, and the Ancient and Noble House of Bones, and more importantly, it had kept the line unbroken. Her uncle had been able to claim the Montague title, given that the Bones title had gone to his older brother, her father, and thus the line had continued on, with more heirs and daughters, all who had made good matches.
She couldn’t believe that she was already talking herself into this… that she was justifying it.
They needed a plan for Harry Potter though. He couldn’t just disappear… the timing would already be against them.
Merlin… now she was starting to plan…
Susan started to fuss and she hushed her softly; bouncing her in her arms and humming a lullaby.
Sirius’s plan had gotten under her skin…
She needed a lot more reassurance before she agreed to it.
They needed allies…
Sirius planned to go after the Longbottoms, first and foremost, and though she could see Alice doing whatever it took to protect her son whilst doing her duty as godmother to the child, Frank would be a whole different story.
Augusta was the lynchpin. If Sirius could get the dowager on board, she would put her foot down in regards to her son.
They needed Augusta…
But then, they had Minerva…
The Hogwarts professor was well respected for her own achievements, but there was no doubting that her Clan name also carried weight, and she was already good friends with the dowager; the two women having been peers at Hogwarts. This would take some masterful manoeuvring on Sirius’s part, but there was no denying that having her on board would help to bring in Augusta.
She would have to speak to Louise too…
The healer’s son and daughter-in-law held no love for Dumbledore, and after the discoveries of the day, it felt a slim chance that the Abbott family would continue to support the old man.
She had her family name… though she was a woman… but the Bones family was still respected, especially within the grey houses.
She was a woman… and a new head of house at that…
She missed Richard and Xanthe fiercely…
Xanthe Lovegood had been the perfect match for her brother, serious when she’d needed to be, but otherwise flighty and light-hearted, and most of all she’d been good. Amelia couldn’t ever have imagined her sister-in-law hurting a fly, and yet she’d been murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Lovegoods were an ancient house themselves, and Xanthe’s brother had married into the Greengrass line and they had just welcomed their own daughter.
Amelia was a single woman…
A single woman whose sole heir was also a female…
Meaning that Susan would potentially be the last of the Bones line, and their House would end up dying out…
Coupling had never held any desire for her. Her coworkers around her called her a career woman, and she had been respected for that, to a point, but the truth was far more complicated. It wasn’t that she wanted companionship and shunned it for her career… it was that it had never held any interest for her. With her older brother carrying the house line, and having made a good match in Xanthe, there had never been any pressure for her to have to find someone… but now…
Perhaps, in the dead of night, she’d thought it would be nice to have someone to sling an arm over her in sleep… to wake up to someone next to her, but the rest of it… the way that her peers had swooned at boys at Hogwarts… it had never held her interest…
What was she doing?
Her priorities were out of whack.
A pair of twenty-one-year-olds had given their lives to end Voldemort, and their son was currently in the hands of a manipulative old headmaster who planned on giving the Potter heir to muggles.
She was exhausted.
Rufus had promised that he would drop in before the clock struck nine… it was closer to ten.
Against her better judgement, she summoned her patronus, her fox cocking his head and looking at her quizzically as she tried to work out a way to give her boss the information he needed, without giving anything away that would be dangerous to overhear.
“Rufus. The dog has been chasing its tail all day, any advice? I might have secured a copy of what you have been looking for. The flaming chicken has been playing fast and loose with his wand. Any updates with the cottage? I’ve been on standby all day, waiting for your instruction.”
It took less than a minute for Rufus to land on her carpet.
“You were lucky that I was alone in the office.” He said smoothly. “Not exactly subtle Bones.”
“I thought I was being very subtle.” She replied, feeling offence rise in her chest.
“The flaming chicken?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “Not hard to work out.”
“I’ll give you that.” She conceded; waving her wand to pour him a drink and float it over to him. He raised another eyebrow with a pointed look at the grim curled up on her rug.
“Has he been there all day?” He asked; taking a seat in an armchair.
“Not all day.” She replied, feeling protectiveness rise in her chest. “I think he’s finding it easier to be able to sink into his form’s mental space. He’s gone through it over the last twenty-four hours.”
“I can’t blame him… though I would have preferred that he had registered with the ministry, rather than having one of my aurors hide an offence worthy of Azkaban, right under my nose.”
“We have the power to make him legal in time.” She said softly.
“So… Dumbledore…” Rufus probed after a short silence.
“Minerva McGonagall is in one of my guest rooms.” She said pointedly; her anger over the situation, still bubbling in her chest. “Louise not only spent over an hour fixing the mess that Dumbledore left of Sirius’s memories, she also went on the warpath after what her diagnosis of Minerva exposed. I won’t reveal her exact findings, but a basic scan left her with nearly a foot of parchment.”
“Morgana’s tits.”
“Going on what she found, I can only recommend that we initiate a full testing of all Hogwarts and Ministry personnel.”
“You know that isn’t feasible. It would never make it through the Wizengamot.”
“Then we advocate for voluntary testing.” She replied. “We frame it, that after so many good and lawful purebloods were held under the imperious curse, anyone can volunteer for testing and be in the clear for any actions found to be committed under Confundus or Obliviates. Those of darker disposition can refuse on the grounds of pride, or even ignorance, and those who do wish to do their duty will be able to clear themselves, and we discover just how far Dumbledore’s manipulations run. I can think of at least one prospective head of department that is certain to have been the subject of Albus’s meddling.”
“I don’t disagree with you Amelia… I just don’t know how successful a scheme like that would be for all the headaches it’s going to cost me to get it past Bagnold.”
She could concede that he had a point there, and it was going to be a plan that would require a lot of further thought.
“What of the Potter child?” Rufus asked.
“Dumbledore has him at Hogwarts, and has plans in place to leave him with his muggle aunt and uncle. The Lady Potter’s sister and brother-in-law… Minerva was furious before we discovered the mess left by the headmaster. Apparently, she has no confidence that they would be able to raise the child with any measure of decency.”
“I suspect that Black has a plan.” Rufus stated; finally taking a swig of his whisky. “Let’s hear it.”
“You aren’t going to like it…” She started. “Merlin… I don’t like it.”
“Does it involve the disappearance of Crouch?” Rufus asked and she felt her eyebrows raise at the parallels between their thinking. “Because even I wouldn’t be able to turn a blind eye against the murder of a ministry official.”
“I can unequivocally state that Crouch is at least third on the list of people Sirius wants to kill.” Amelia said, only half joking. “Pettigrew and Dumbledore are both higher than that.”
“Oh good… I can sleep soundly, knowing that Barty is safe in his own bed.” She couldn’t help the snort that escaped her at the deadpan tone to Rufus’s voice. “So, what is his plan?”
“Blood adoption.” She replied; feeling like that was safe to reveal, given the fact that she had no intentions of revealing the full extent of Sirius’s aims. “He accepts that the ministry would be unlikely to honour his right as godfather, given his single status and job. His thinking behind it, is that it would effectively hide the child from the eyes of Dumbledore, and cut the legs from any opposition from the Ministry… I admit that I’m finding it hard to disagree with him. It’s a solid tactic. He’s planning on framing it as though he’s adopting a long-lost bastard… again, it’s acceptable in certain circles. He is the heir to an Ancient and Noble House after all. He can also get us a copy of the Potter’s will, which certainly help his case.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that old man Arcturus would just roll over and let him adopt a bastard into the Black bloodline?” She had no answer to that, but her silence seemed to answer Rufus’s question anyway. “Okay, so ignoring his most obvious route… let’s say he does this alone, and does succeed in slipping this by the Lord Black, and does convince the ministry that the will is enough justification… the timing would be extremely convenient Amelia.”
“I’ll admit that we haven’t made it that far yet.” She conceded. “It has only been a day, Rufus. He’s clouded by grief and guilt, right now. He’s not thinking straight, and to be honest… I’m struggling myself.”
Silence fell between them, broken only by the ticking of her mother’s carriage clock.
“You’ve been through a lot yourself.” Rufus said softly. “No one would blame you for needing time.”
“The job is, arguably all I have.” She snapped.
“All you had.” He corrected, still gently… still delicately. “How much time have you had with Susan since your brother passed? She cannot be raised by nanny elves alone.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?” He asked. “Do you really understand what it is going to mean to raise this girl? You might think that you have it all figured out Amelia, but you will blink, and she will become a young woman, and you will have missed it all.” She felt guilt gnaw at her chest, at the remembrance that her boss had lost his own wife and daughter in one of the earliest Death Eater attacks, almost a decade ago.
“What point are you trying to make Rufus?” She asked wearily. “Is this your way of letting me go? Because you’re doing a shit job at consoling me, if it is.”
“Quite the opposite, actually.” He replied softly. “I want you to start chasing for my job. Less field work and more office time… paperwork can be done at home. It was the reason I chased promotion in the first place… more time with Fran and Olivia.”
“Finally ready for retirement, are you?” She asked with a scoff. Rufus was her friend, but she knew how deep his ambitions ran.
“Not at all.” He replied smoothly; ignoring the bite in her tone. “You know me as well as anyone… I want Barty’s job, then eventually… Bagnold’s.” She deflated at that. Butting heads with Rufus did nothing but let her blow off steam, and her boss, for all his faults was an honourable and fair man. He had earned his place within the ministry, through hard graft and long hours, and kissed eighty percent less arse than the average ministry official. “Maybe today has finally put everything into perspective for me.” He said; his hands clasped around his glass and a faraway look in his eyes. “I don’t want any more orphans being the legacy of this bloody war Amelia. They’re already calling the Potter child the ‘Boy-who-Lived’… what kind of moniker is that, to place upon a child? His parent’s died, but he survived the Dark Lord? What kind of pressure will come of it, ten years down the line? We can’t even confirm that you-know-who is gone completely, who are the public likely to look towards if he ever does return?”
“All I’m hearing is how right Sirius is to take the child and disappear.”
“I doubt that Black would ever truly be able to vanish completely.” Rufus replied. “And honestly, I doubt very much that his plan does involve complete obscurity, no matter how much I wouldn’t blame him… just… tell him to be careful Amelia… Arcturus is as wily as they come, and I don’t know to what lengths I would be able to protect him… or you, if this all goes wrong.”
“Don’t worry… I’ve been turning the same thoughts over in my head for the last two hours.” She replied.
A deep sigh from the grim on her rug drew their attentions for a second, and she wondered if Sirius dreamed in this form.
“He looks peaceful at least…” Rufus said softly. “When I saw you push that portkey into his hands this morning, I thought for sure that he would be either dead or in Azkaban by the end of the day… though Barty is still baying for his blood, we have the grounds for a strong case in his favour… perhaps… if what I suspect he’s really planning, comes to fruition, the Lord Black will offer him protection, if nothing else.”
“I will protect him.” She replied; jutting out her chin in defiance. “He’s done nothing wrong.”
“Then he had a fierce warrior already in his corner…” She watched as Rufus downed the last of his drink and stood, placing his steady hand on her shoulder. “Keep that fire Amelia… it will stand you in good stead for the days to come.”
And with that… he was gone, and she was left in her study; the ticking of her carriage clock, and the snores of both Sirius and Susan, the only sounds to break the silence.