Chapter 62: Remember, remember the first of November
Remus Lupin was sleeping peacefully with one eye open when the door to his flat exploded. Following his instincts, he gripped his wand under his pillow and rolled over the bed, falling with relative grace to the floor and took a position to hex whoever the intruder was. The door to his bedroom was sent flying too and spells came from the opening.
“Show yourself, you fucking traitor!”
“Padfoot?!” Remus shouted when he saw Sirius then James entered the room. Another spell came into his direction and Remus ducked to the ground. “What the hell, Padfoot?!”
“You’ll pay for selling Lily and Rick to Moldy-short!”
“What are you talking about?!”
“Don’t play innocent Remus! I know you’re the traitor!”
More spells went flying but this time Remus used his wand to protect himself with a shield charm. He understood then that something must have gone wrong with his friends’ plan because Sirius wouldn’t have acted if he had just been just suspicious.
“They asked it of me!”
“I don’t care if the Dark Wanker and-”
“Lily and Rick asked me!”
“-his death… What?!”
“Padfoot, let him talk. He deserves this at least. We can always curse him afterward if we don’t like what we hear.” James said, grabbing Sirius’s wrist holding his wand.
“What for, Prongs? He’s going to lie!”
“I can make an unbreakable vow if you want!”
The two aurors and friends saw Remus put forward his off-arm, ready to go through with what he said.
“... Explain. You have one minute.”
“Mid-August, they invited me to their home and told me they suspected there was a traitor in the Order, just like you did.”
“Yeah! You!”
“No! We talked and they asked me to play the traitor to ferret the real one out! Since I’m a werewolf and that I’m in contact with the packs often, whether they are following Voldy or not, they believed I’d be the prime suspect for everyone. Prejudice and all! All I had to do was give different information to different members, taking notes of who knew what. That way-”
“With everyone having different information, you would have known who the traitor is by checking what leaked to the other side.” commented James.
“Yes. Only them and I knew as far as I know. The fewer people knew the greater our odds of finding the traitor.”
“I can’t believe I… I fell right for it.” Sirius said, lowering his wand, completely deflating.
“That was the whole point, Padfoot. Don’t blame yourself for it.”
“I’m sorry, Moony.”
“It’s alright, I’m not mad. Now, please tell me why you barrelled down into my home in the first place? You wouldn’t have done it if you weren’t sure I was the traitor but since there is no proof because it doesn’t exist, something must have happened.”
Sirius and James exchange a glance and the former in a dejected fashion went to sit on what was left of the bed. James was the one who shared the information.
“Approximately four hours ago. An explosion was reported at Godric’s Hollow. The Potter Cottage is nothing but ruins and ashes.”
“No! Nononono!” Remus was in total panic now. “He can’t have found them! They can’t be dead! Rose!”
“We don’t know if they are, Moony. We found a burnt, headless body but that’s it.” Sirius added.
“That’s impossible! Nobody knew where they lived! Lily only shared the area but it’s too big to find them! The only ones who knew the exact location was me and I told only the two of you and…” Remus’ eyes widened at the realization.
“““WORMTAIL!””” the three friends exclaimed, Sirius getting on his feet.
“It could also be you, Prongs!” wand at the ready, Remus pointed at James.
Shock was replaced by appalling on the former Potter’s face. “What?! I’m not!”
“You hate Rick! That’s reason enough to-”
“Moony, that’s going too far. I mean sure, James hates Rick with every ounce of his being but betraying the order to Moldy-shorts just to stick it to him?”
Remus thought for a moment at the possibility of that happening and had to admit that it was zero. James may loathe Rick but he hated Voldemort and the Death Eaters even more. He wouldn’t have sold his friends or good people, to harm one person, especially with a baby in the mix. He knew that much.
“I’m… I’m sorry, James. I-”
“It’s fine. You had every reason to suspect me. Like Padfoot and I had every reason to suspect- Shit! Lara and Henry! They’re defenseless!” James began to move outside the room, realizing that Peter knew where he lived since he invited him often into his home. His friends were right behind him.
“I’m coming with-”
“No! I’ll be fine, Pads. Track Peter down!”
Exiting the flat, James apparated away leaving Sirius and Remus together.
“Auror or not, I’m hunting that rat with you. Got a better nose.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other-”
Sirius was interrupted by a tiger patronus coming through the window. The appearance of the animal shocked them both to the core because they knew only one person who had a tiger as a guardian and they knew that person was dead.
“Remus, meet me at Platform 9¾ in ten minutes. It’s about Rose.”
The voice that delivered the message was more than familiar. They couldn’t mistake it. Nor could a patronus be faked.
“She’s alive?! Marlene is alive and you didn’t tell me?!” Sirius felt like losing his mind.
Remus was simply gobsmacked. “I had no idea! I’m as shocked as you are!”
Sirius looked into his friend’s eyes to detect any lies but found none. Deciding to get to the bottom of this both apparated to King’s Cross on the magical side. The train wasn’t there of course since it was at Hogsmeade station at this time of the year. That made the whole platform empty and in the dead of the night kind of eerie. They heard the familiar sound of apparition and, wand drawn, pointed at the direction the sound came from. There they saw Andromeda who also had her wand in hand.Another crack sound echoed and they all turned their heads to see Marlene.
“Marlene.” The emotion in Sirius’ voice was almost palpable and he walked toward her like a moth attracted by a flame. He stopped in his tracks when the blonde witch’s wand pointed at him right between his eyes only an inch or two away.
“Why are you here?!”
“He was in the room when your patronus arrived.” answered Remus.
“And I’m supposed to believe you?” Turning to Sirius she asked him a question who tore him apart. “What was the last thing you said to me?”
“I-I said… the most stupid thing in my life because I was scared.” When red sparks began to emit from the tip of Marlene’s wand he gave a better answer.One full of shame. “I said… I said I wasn’t… the father of your child. I’m sorry, Mar-”
““WHAT?!”” Andromeda and Remus exclaimed in shock.
“Pafoot, please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did!”
“I was scared!”
“What memorable thing Nymphadora did on my first Winter Break with the Potter?”
Marlene was pointing her wand at Andromeda, now. Sirius was all but forgotten to her.
“She accidentally headbutted my grandfather in the crotch while riding her toy broom”.
Satisfied with the answer, Marlene finally pointed her wand at Remus.
“What was Rose’s first bout of accidental magic?”
“She apparated from her room to her father’s seat in the living room.”
“Holy shit! She’s only three months-”
“Shut it mutt.” interjected Marlene and Sirius did on the spot. “I was supposed to lead you to a safe house where Rose is so you, as her godparents, could take care of her but with a traitor among the order…”
“It’s Peter!”/ “It’s Wormtail!” the two Maraudeurs replied when Marlene was looking at Sirius.
“James and Sirius burst into my house accusing me of being the traitor less than twenty minutes ago! I only told them and Peter where Rick and Lily… Where… It’s all my fault. They’re dead because-”
“They’re alive.”
“““They are?!!”””
“As of ten minutes ago they were. Or so said the Potter tapestry.”
“Where are they? Why contact us right now and like this?” Andromeda inquired.
“Twice a day, Rick and Lily sent a report to me and his mother to say everything was alright. Should they miss a report I was to wait a few hours before contacting you and Remus and lead you to Rose.”
“Rose! Is she alright?! Did Moldy-short-” Remus interjected.
“She was never with them. The little baby you saw was an animated doll with a glamour on it. Rose was always with Dorea and I.”
“But… why would they?”
“They weren’t hiding!” exclaimed Andromeda in surprise. “They were baiting the Dark Lord!”
“Yes. It’s a long conversation and we better have it in a more secure place. Here, read this.”
Marlene took a piece of paper from her pocket and showed it to the three others. Immediately the sudden knowledge of Potter Manor’s location filled their mind.
“Merlin's balls. A fidelius.” Sirius commented.
Remus spoke up “If they put it on the manor and went away anyway they were really baiting him.”
“Yes. Now let’s go.”
The group apparated outside the manor and quickly got inside. They found Dorea sitting on the couch and rocking Rose in her arms.
“Thank Merlin, she’s alright.” Remus muttered and he went to have a good look at her with Andromeda. Sirius tried to start a conversation with Marlene but she shut him down by pointing his wand at him. Her face was stone cold and he knew he had a lot of groveling to do ahead of him.
“Okay, what happened? Exactly. Something tells me that Lily and Rick had many plans at the same time and nobody but them knew about all of them.”
“You’re correct, Remus. Even I, don't know all of them.”
“I do.”
Everyone turned to Dorea who handed Rose to Andromeda to her delight.
“The big plan was that in one fell swoop, they took him, his followers and the traitor in the order out. For that to happen, they asked you, Remus, to play the traitor to bring the real one out.”
“It’s Peter Petigrew.” replied the werewolf. “I still can’t believe… He was our best friend. I trusted him. That’s why I… I told him where they were during a conversation.” The guilt in his voice was clear to everyone.
“You were expected to.”
That took the werewolf aback. “I-I was?”
“Yes. They knew how loyal you are. That’s why they named you Rose’s godfather in the first place, among other things but I digress. They knew you trusted Pettigrew with your life, that’s why they didn’t tell you they thought he was the traitor. Well at least my son. Lily thought it was James. Your acting role was less about finding the traitor but more about confirming it was Pettigrew.”
“I don’t get it. How did Rick suspect Peter?” inquired Sirius. He had no idea. Peter never did anything suspicious and he wasn’t the most courageous of people nor the most competent.
“First off. He is a rat animagus. Your animagus form tells a lot about what kind of person you are.”
“Most of the time anyway.” Marlene’s comment, while she was looking at Sirius, made him flinch. As a dog animagus, he was supposed to be loyal no matter what and he failed spectacularly in that regard.
“Second, no one would think he would be the spy because… well.. I never met the young man but you did. I’m sure you understand.”
““Yes.””
“He’s so…”
“Pathetic and looks so harmless that nobody pays attention to him twice.” said Marlene bluntly when Remus hesitated.
“As Corvus says, it’s always the one you think less that’s often the spy. Because they need to blend in and be unsuspicious.” Dorea went on. “Now the part about the Death Eaters. Nine months ago, Corvus invited members of the order dissatisfied with the reactive and pacifist stance Dumbledore had regarding the war.”
“Pacifist?” Remus questioned.
“Stunner only, Moony. You’d be surprised at how many disagreed with that policy. Not like we went ahead and killed right out of the bat. It was a last resort but if we had to choose between our side or the death eaters, it was the death eaters that would be killed. It was… more lethal self-defense than cold blooded murder.”
“We? Who’s we?”
“Marlene and me, Rick and Lily. The Longbottoms and the Shacklebolts. Meadows, Hammer, Bones and Moody. We… used the taboo to ambush Death Eaters. We captured them, loaded them to… A prison where Moody interrogated them for information.”
“ *A* prison? Not ministry cells or Azkaban?” wondered Andromeda aloud.
“No.” Sirius shook his head. “I can’t tell you about the prison’s location, it’s under Fidelius and I’m not the secret keeper. What I can tell you is that it’s under our control and they can’t escape, bribe their way out or be broken out. The objective was to hold them until the war was over and Moldy-shorts, dead. Then we would have taken them in custody properly at the DMLE.”
“There was another part to this plan that they didn’t tell anyone.”
“There is?!” Sirius was surprised by Dorea’s revelation. He thought that was about it and that there was nothing more.
“Yes. Most of the followers you caught were low ranks. High rank at best. None were from the inner circle. We knew that Voldemort kept things separate. Multiple cells scattered all over the country, not knowing the identity of who was on their side and who was not. The same for the inner circle, however since they’re all working closely together for Voldemort, it was bound for them to discover their identity if they didn’t already know. Those are the real monsters that need to rot in Azkaban.”
“I bet dear cousin Bellatrix is one of them.” Sirius grunted in dissatisfaction.
“You’re correct, Sirius.”
“That was easy. She’s batshit insane. Sorry, Andi.” She simply shrugged her shoulders and kept rocking Rose. “I might not have seen her face because of the mask but I’d recognize her cackling and her viciousness anywhere.”
Remus was frowning to the side. Something was missing from the big picture and he couldn’t tell what. “I don’t quite understand. If you never got a member of the inner circle, how did you… I mean… Their identities?”
“Simple.” Dore shrugged. “We have a spy among them.”
““““NO WAY!””””
Even Marlene had been shocked to learn that. In any case they all have been so loud that Rose woke up and began to cry. Andromeda quickly tried to calm her down. Dorea used her wand to cast a soundproof bubble charm around her granddaughter. Nobody could hear her but she couldn’t hear anyone either.
“How did you even do that?! They’re like… the most bigoted hardcore blood purists in the country!” inquired Sirius who was still flabbergasted but also mightily impressed.
“That was easy. We promised them what they wanted the most. Po-”
The familiar sound of Moody’s wooden leg hitting the ground was heard and everyone looked in the direction of the living room entrance. On reflex, Sirius and Remus had their wands in their hands, forgetting that the manor was under the Fidelius. Odds were it was the real Moody. Both men stood up when they saw an unconscious Rick being carried by the veteran Auror and Lily. Immediately they went to help while asking questions.
“Lily! You scared the shit out of us! We thought you were dead! The both of you!” said Sirius who sat Rick next to his mother. Immediately Dorea used her wand to check on her son.
“Sorry, we needed to act fast and let people in the dark about what happened. Dorea, I fixed his wounds but he was tortured with the Cruciatus.”
Lily sat down next to Andromeda and took Rose from her arms. She hugged her daughter as much as she could without hurting her, and kept kissing her little head in relief.
“What happened?!” wondered Remus.
“A whole damn lot, lad.” Moody took a sip from the flask he pulled from his coat’s pocket.
“Aunt Dorea was explaining to us the plans you devised. She got over the part of Remus being a willing decoy and bait, also the prison and was beginning to tell us about the spy you had in the Dark Lord’s inner circle.” resumed Andromeda.
Moody nearly choked on the flask he was drinking from when he heard that. Sirius, feeling like having himself a drink, called for Tipsy and asked for one. “You had a spy in the inner circle?! And you didn’t say anything?!”
Lily took a deep breath and nodded.
“Their role wasn’t to give us information regularly. It was to record everything they could and give everything to us in one go. That’s why we acted so fast tonight. No contact was safer until then. It was done to protect her.”
“““Her?”””
“Bella.”
This time someone choked. It was Sirius who had been drinking firewhisky which went the wrong pipe. Remus was hitting his back to make everything go right.
Andromeda was losing it. “Bella?! As in Bellatrix? My sister?!”
“What... she said.” In a strangled voice, Sirius pointed to Andromeda with his finger.
“Yes.”
“Lily. Bellatrix? Really? Batshit insane, muggle-hating, sadistic, Bellatrix? That Bellatrix?”
“Yes, Andi. That Bellatrix.”
““How?!”” the two youngest members of the Black family asked.
“In the summer of 78, your grandfather had a private talk with Cassiopeia and I.” Dorea began having finished checking her son.
This time it was Moody who choked for good. On his own spit. “Your sister is alive?!”
“Yes, Alastor. A story for another time. Anyway, Arcturus realized that the House of Black was going down the drain with no good heir to succeed him. Orion has no spine, Cygnus is a monster. Regulus, at the time, was that bitch Walburaga’s puppet and you Sirius…”
He cut his great Aunt off. “Was disowned.”
“You never were.”
“Wha-”
“You’re still wearing the name of Black so you never were. Walburga may have said so and blasted you off the tapestry but Arcturus never validated it. Your mother has absolutely no authority regarding this as she’s not the head of house. Regardless, you were a good candidate if not for the fact that you would have dragged the whole house to the ground just to spite your mother. Arcturus would have been okay with you changing things a bit as long as certain traditions were respected.”
“Like muggle baiting? No thanks.”
“Sirius, everything you know about the black tradition is through your mad mother. It’s mostly lies. Yes most of it had been true at a time but with Arcturus, the house became a bit less conservative. While he wouldn’t have tolerated you marrying a muggle-born. He would have accepted a half-blood. He never went after Ted either.”
“That’s barely better, Auntie.”
“He wouldn’t have agreed to muggle or muggle-born persecution either. In any case, since you didn’t care one bit, you were out of the succession, meaning all male of the house were unfit. As such he considered changing the house laws. Changing the lordship from strictly patrilineal succession to agnatic-cognatic succession.”
“To what now?”
“And how is that related to Lestrange being your spy?” asked Alastor.
“It means, Sirius.” Dorea continued, ignoring Moody. “That house of Black could have been ruled by a female. Andromeda of course was out since he disowned her because of her marriage to Ted, a muggle-born. That left among the candidates your mother and we all know that wasn’t happening any time soon. Arcturus would have burned the whole House of Black down with his own hands and the muggle way before that happened.”
“Can’t blame him, really.” Andromeda commented, having nothing but loathing and disgust for the woman.
“Narcissa was out too. Her husband is one of the inner circle and his plan was to have his son inherit the black’s fortune and status after killing every member of the family.” Dorea interjected before anyone could ask questions about this. “More on that later. That left only Bellatrix.”
“Who is not fit at all with how insane she is.” muttered loudly Sirius.
“She used to be, before your mother and her father poisoned her with blood purity ideas. She was smart, she was powerful and charismatic. But you’re right. In the end, Arcturus accepted that no one from his line was a fit anymore, so he turned to Corvus.”
Sirius didn’t seem to catch on. “Wait, wait, wait… Are you telling me that Rick is the heir to the house of Black?”
“No. I’m telling you he is Lord Black.”
Both Andromeda and Sirius’ jaws fell to the ground. Marlene’s and Moody’s did too. Someone being Lord of two Ancient and Noble Houses had never been seen before.
“Arcturus wanted Corvus to save the House of Black, so I negotiated to make him Lord straight away. It hasn’t been difficult to make him agree and by July 78, Corvus was Lord Black while being the heir of house Potter. In August, a Black family dinner was organized. Black by blood or name only. Minus you, Sirius because, well… you wouldn’t have come so there was no point sending you an invitation and Andromeda, it was for your own protection. Anyway, Corvus was introduced as the new Lord and of course…”
“Let me guess. My mother opened her mouth.” Sirius knew his mother very well.
“Yes. He nearly killed her. Out of respect for Orion and Regulus who he properly met for the first time outside the pitch, he let her live. But he crushed her vocal cords because he found her voice annoying.” All Blacks shared a smile and a good laugh because Walburga had only one volume: yelling loudly and her voice was atrocious. “He said ‘Unlike Uncle Arcturus I have absolutely no attachment to any of you beyond Aunt Cassie. Unlike him, I’m not nice. Shame the house, disobey and you’ll find yourself without a family name and the privileges that comes with it.’”
“Grandfather? Nice? Are we talking about the same person?”
“Grandfather has his moments, Sirius. He just put his duty as Lord Black first before the members of the family. My father and your mother are still alive because of his kindness though. They’re blood, no matter how despicable they are.”
“Regardless,” Dorea continued her tale. “Corvus quickly started making changes. Walburga was confined in Grimmauld and forbidden to get out or contact anyone. Same for Cygnus in Blackmoor. He put Regulus under Arcturus’ and Melania’s care, pretexting that spending time with her grandson for the summer will do her health some good. While it did, the real objective was for your grandfather to teach properly to your brother what it means to be a Black and not the nonsense your mother spat.”
“Wait, so Reggie… He’s not…?”
“A Death Eater? No. Corvus sent him away to France for a mastery in charm as soon as he graduated. Regulus didn’t want to be a Death Eater either anymore after the summer with your grandparents. Never really did in the first place but… your mother…” Dorea shook her head and dropped that line of thought. “Now the part about Bella.
Of course she protested, there was no way she would let her house of birth be led by Corvus, when one: as far as she knew he was light sided and two: was about to be married to a muggle-born. He placated her with a duel. She was winning until she said the m-word. The kiddies gloves were off then.
Ten seconds later she was disarmed and on her ass. Corvus destroyed her, nearly killed her by using the spell he used on Voldemort at the beginning of the year. They talked. I don’t know what he told her but when he was done she made an unbreakable vow. She was to spy for us. In exchange she would become Lady Black through marriage.”
“Merlin’s saggy nutsack! A second wife?! And Bella?” Sirius turned to Lily in shock.
The redhead took a big breath and began to talk. “As a muggle-born, I can’t be Lady Black. Arcturus insisted on that. But since he’s lord of two houses Rick can have a second wife without much public outrage. And before any of you say anything, he didn’t want to become Lord Black when we knew he’d have to marry someone else too. I pushed him to do it for… reasons which are our own. If you don’t mind, Dorea, I’d like to be the one to talk about the rest of the plan.”
The former Lady Potter waved her hand in invitation to her daughter-in-law.
“We knew Voldemort was after us after North-Hampton. We’ve been preparing for months to lure him into a trap. When he launched his assault in September…” She didn’t name the pureblood families that got slaughtered because Marlene was present but everyone understood. “That night Marlene visited us.” She gave Sirius a dark look and he had the decency to look at the ground in shame and guilt and squirmed in his seat.
“An hour later, Amelia apparated in this very room, wounded with her niece in her arms. She had barely escaped her family’s massacre. When we saw what happened in the Daily Prophet the next morning, Rick and I decided to move up our plan’s timetable. Dumbledore had already lended us a cottage of his in Godric’s Hollow and we began working on it, putting wards that would capture Voldemort at the very least. We leaked the information partially at the order meeting and hoped Remus would do well as a fake spy.”
“Peter is the traitor.” the werewolf said and Lily grunted.
“So Rick was right…” Lily sighed in defeat. “I’m sorry Remus, we didn’t want you to doubt your friends but…”
“It’s okay. I nearly got my head blown off by Sirius but…”
“I said I was sorry!”
“Yeah, yeah, I forgave you.” Remus waved his hand in dismissal.
“Anyways…” Lily went on. “ As expected, Voldemort found us. Except it didn’t work quite like we had planned. Since Voldemort was magically more experienced, knowledgeable and stronger, the odds were not really in our favor in a fight. So Rick got an idea to use Voldemort’s hubris against himself. To use a muggle weapon to kill him.”
“You’re kidding me?! One of those Gum?” Moody interjected.
“Gun. And yes but a powerful one. We also planned to juiced it up with magic. My father owned one and my sister inherited it when he died, so at supper time I left the cottage to get it. I knew in which town they lived but not exactly where so it took me two hours to find them. When I got back, Voldemort had already been here for an hour and a half and was torturing Rick for Rose and I’s location, thinking we were together. I ambushed him from behind and shot him in the head.”
“Damn! Gums are powerful! There was nothing left of his head!”
“Yes. In the process I also hit a gas pipe and the stove was on, I quickly side-apparated Rick outside and the cottage exploded. We found refuge with an old witch a few houses over and we sent a patronus to you, Moody, but also Amelia and Dumbledore. They arrived in no time. Despite Rick’s state he wanted Dumbledore to have an emergency meeting with Minister Bagnold where we told her everything. Amelia was to take charge of the crime scene and Moody to guard the room we were in.
The minister was very happy to learn that Voldemort was dead. A bit less with what we did because well… that was illegal. But she agreed to make it look like everything was done with her approval since there is some suspicion that the DMLE is compromised. Some sort of plan we came to propose to her when she got elected and to which she was favorable.”
“There is indeed a leak at the DMLE.” Sirius interjected. He knew that quite well since he was an auror himself. “Did Bella... Did you see her tonight?”
“Yes and she told us who’s the leak. You won’t believe it.”
“Robarts? He’s an asshole.” answered Moody.
“I would have said Blarmane.” Sirius countered.
“Nope. Crouch himself.” Lily revealed.
““WHAT?!””
“The bastard is a Death Eater?!”
“Merlin’s balls! That… Makes no sense, the guy has been riding everyone’s ass at each failure to capture-”
“He doesn’t know he’s the leak.” Lily corrected.
“Imperius?” Moody suggested.
“No, his son. Junior is a Death Eater or so Bella says.”
“NO SHIT!” Sirius was dumbfounded. “Hardass asshole Crouch was betrayed by his own son!”
“Yes, and he’s quite the fanatic from Bella’s words. Imagine her at her worst but worse.”
“Damn. I still don’t understand how you got Bella to turn her cloak.”
“That’s a secret, Sirius.” Lily smiled knowingly. There was a story there but not for anyone's ears. “Bella got us the names of all the inner circle and a dozen more high ranking death eaters. If everything is going according to plan, Crouch’s political career will be over and Amelia is a shoe-in to become the next director of the DMLE in a few years. All the Death Eaters, minus Bella, Dumbledore’s spy and Lucius Malfoy would be convicted for life in Azkaban.”
Marlene for the first time in a while, spoke up. “Why Malfoy?”.
“Because Narcissa didn’t take well to learning Lucius planned to kill her family. She included.”
“She wants to do him herself, huh? Can’t really blame her.”
“Actually, no Sirius. If Lucius is convicted, her son Draco will have a lot of difficulties when he becomes Lord Malfoy because of the stigma. She doesn’t want that. So Lucius will be free. Although if he suddenly falls ill and retires from public view or dies in an accident is still up in the air. I’m not sure which Narcissa will choose.
Regardless, the information that Rick and I got regarding Voldemort and his follower’s activities and which we passed along to the Order came from Narcissa who spied on Lucius. He’s Voldemort’s number one so he knows plenty of things. He was meticulous however and well guarded, which made actually having intel a bit difficult.
As we speak, Amelia is rounding up, on the minister’s orders, all the Death Eaters she can.”
“Not all. She doesn’t know about Peter. And on this note,” Sirius stood up and so did Remus. “If you’d excuse us. We’re going rat hunting.”
“Alive, guys. I want him to suffer the rest of his life in Azkaban.”
““Duly noted, Lils/Lily.””
The two young men, left the manor and apparated away in search of their traitorous ex-friend.
“I’m going back to the prison. Round up the scum for Amy to pick up. You should take some rest, lass.” Moody said goodbye to everyone and left like Sirius and Remus did.
“I’m glad this is finally over.” Lily whispered while looking at her sleeping husband on the sofa.
Now it was time to rest. With Voldemort gone, the war was over. All that was left was to round up and judged the Death Eaters. The fighting was over, now they could focus on building peace and making sure their little Rose grows up in a safer and happier world.