Enchantress

Chapter One - He's Back

Chapter One Synopsis: Life always had a tendency for making unexpected changes. Sirius Black coming back was just one of these changes. Changes made the world go round; there were obvious changes, secret changes and devastating changes. Changes propel us forward, what’s in store depends on the changes

Chapter One – He’s Back

Strong Language

Sirius Black is back!

Witnesses this morning witnessed the explosion surrounding the veil deep within the Ministry of Magic. Though the veil itself remained unharmed the same can’t be said for the amount of rubble and smoke that littered the hall. The noise started earlier in the morning and began increasing in volume as the morning progressed. Unspeakables and Ministry officials charged into the room after the noise alerted them, wands at the ready to face the coming danger.

Eye witnesses state that as the explosion ended and the smoke cleared the image of a man staggering forward came into view. Officials raised their wands ready to attack, no one has ever returned from the veil before – though there have been many studies into the resurrection of those trapped within the veil. The staggering man seemed disorientated and also had his wand out as if to fight. As the smoke cleared altogether witnesses gasped at the man before them while he look back confused.

Sirius Black, known for being falsely imprisoned and escaping from Azkaban was pushed into the veil six years previous by Bellatrix Lestrange (his cousin) during the battle at the Ministry. It is said that his Godson Harry Potter mourned the loss of his Godfather greatly.  Lord Black appeared as he would have been six years ago, the veil seemed to have stopped him from aging.

After no threat was revealed, Lord Black was taken to St. Mungo’s for testing and to be questioned by Ministry officials. The question remains, how did he manage to escape the veil? Why was he the only one to return? And how will his Godson take the new that he is back?

A Great Golden Wedding

As the wedding of Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley approaches, who will be lucky enough to find themselves invited to the wedding of the century. Miss Granger was seen in Diagon Alley last week looking quite disheveled and tired, has Mr. Weasley been keeping her up too late?! And what of the new of Sirius Black’s return, will he be one of the lucky people to receive an invite?

For more information, turn to page 6

Lord Malfoy looked up from his morning addition of The Daily Prophet, the news that Sirius Black was back was interesting indeed, and it meant that the Lords could finally meet for the first gathering since their grandparents were around. Since the end of the war and Voldemort Lord Malfoy had had time to reevaluate his morals and beliefs, he’d joined Voldemort because he didn’t believe in the growing number of muggleborns polluting the Wizarding population and in such a dangerous time Lord Malfoy believed that joining with Voldemort would keep his family safe. It didn’t take long for him to realize that he’d joined the wrong side but by then he was in too deep and couldn’t get out. Lord Malfoy had since struggled with the guilt and the pain of his past actions but he at least had turned to the light in the end. He had served his time, a minimum of three years in Azkaban (curtsey of Narcissa’s involvement in the war and the words of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger) and he had spent the next three years reestablishing his name into something more worthy of the magic his family held. There were still people who would look down at his family or try to shun them, but for the most part the past had been left forgotten. It had been decided after all that it wasn’t illegal to wear the dark mark as most of those people branded had been branded without consent or by force. Furthermore, every person carrying the dark mark or under suspicion had been given a fair trial after the war. There was many more like Lord Malfoy who had paid their dues and were now making their way in the new Wizarding world while others were still in Azkaban or the newly erected prison that took much of its influence from high tailed muggle prisons.

Well well well he thought. Lots of changes, with the return of Lord Black the Pureblood court could meet once more. It would be good to feel the power of the old blood and the gifts of the goddess again. Too long they had ignored the ways of Mother Earth. It would not do to anger her further for she could give as well as she took. Lord Malfoy vowed to wait a few days before addressing Lord Black formally with a written letter and case of Ogden’s finest. The newly returned Lord would do well to learn of this new world less he jumps straight in with accusations.

And what of this Granger-Weasley wedding, it was enough to cause Lord Malfoy to smirk. An upstanding smart witch like Miss Granger would have little benefit from marrying the Weasley child. That one had very little brain cells to rub together. It was true he’d played a spectacular game of chess in their first year but his achievements after that are hardly worth mentioning. No, Miss Granger would gain nothing but an eternity of boredom by marrying the Weasley boy. She should marry someone befitting the station of a war hero heralded as the brightest of her age. Lord Malfoy smirked to himself, if he’d had these thoughts a mere seven or eight years ago, he might have thought he was going mad.

I’m going mad she thought as all the shops seemed to blur into one. She couldn’t distinguish one colour from another; all styles of clothing became one. It was maddening and was making her head hurt. Two weeks till the wedding and her stress was becoming unbearable. Ronald was no help, always sulking off or finding excuses. Harry was always with Sirius who had suddenly returned from the veil or off with Ronald. Hermione only saw Sirius the once and he’d picked her up, spun her around an exclaimed how happy he was to see his Princess again. Hermione’s exhaustion was getting the best of her and in some selfish way she couldn’t wait for the wedding to be over.

Seriously? Thought Sirius as he looked between the two people before him, it sickened him, the way they were behaving. More hearts and friendships would be broken through this and he found himself wondering what exactly had happened in the years he’d been gone.

He’d received a rather formal letter this morning from Malfoy alone with a rather expensive crate of Ogden’s. He wasn’t terribly shocked by the announcement of the five Pureblood Lords coming together in Court. Rather he’d learnt some things during his time in the veil that desperately needed to be put into light.

She arrived home early having given up on her quest in Diagon Alley. She’d expected the house to be empty not filled with questionable sounds; she wasn’t in the mood for Ronald’s antics she just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. The problem was there was already someone in it, two someone’s at that and neither were female. Oblivious to their audience the two kept going indulging each other with murmured words of love. It’s hard to imagine what it feels like to realize your fiancé prefers men to you and not just any man but the savior of the Wizarding world. Hermione would say she felt sick to the stomach at what she saw.

She stepped away, angry tears falling from her eyes. In an irrational moment of distressed magic she blasted apart everything in the house.

“What the fuck?” came the muffled voices as the lovers came to investigate.

“Hermione” stuttered Ronald, “It’s not what it looks like”.

“How long?” Whispered Hermione to no response, “How long?!” she screamed.

“Ten years” whispered Harry Potter.

Hermione didn’t need any more words, she fled to the one place she still felt safe in.

AN: Previously published on another site - will be posted quickly. Still have writers block on Dramione 'Trouble' Fanfic ~ Hannah.