Chapter Text
Riddle’s Report Urges Mixed Marriage
- by Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent
Dozens of ancient pureblood lines from well known Book of Gold, Silver and Bronze families are at risk of extinction in the next generation, says a secret report prepared by the Department of Mysteries (DoM).
“The Fade will decimate the next generation unless urgent action is taken” declares the report, leading to strong pressing concerns for the society as we know it.
See pages 3 to 5 for a complete list of families at most risk with probability of their extinction.
The Unspeakables in the DoM have performed substantial research to develop a series of Arithmancy algorithms that can predict the likelihood of any particular couple having a Faded child.
Families at greatest risk cannot delay; they must introduce new bloodlines into their families immediately.
See pages 6 to 12 for a complete list of Halfbloods, their capacity to withstand the Fade and produce powerful magic offspring, as well as the most efficacious pairings.
Author of the report, Head Unspeakable Augustus Rookwood, refused to comment.
However, sources within the DoM confirm the legitimacy of the report and the fact that it was commissioned by Lord Riddle.
"It’s the reason Lord Riddle was so supportive of the marriage law," an Unspeakable was reported as saying.
"Lord Riddle knows how important the marriage law was to the survival of our world."
"He’s devastated that it didn’t pass, but he still wants magical Britain to know the truth behind the failed marriage law."
Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was unavailable for comment at the time the Prophet went to press.
In other news, the Ministry will be providing eligible purebloods with specially spelled courting parchment that cannot be blocked by any owl wards.
Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge said "The Ministry will let nothing stand in the way of true love."
See page 2 on how to access courting parchment from the comfort of your very own home.
Harry threw the special evening edition of the Daily Prophet on the dining table at Potter Place, disgusted, after reading the front page out to the family.
They’d just started dinner when the Daily Prophet Delivery Owl arrived with the Special Edition.
Harry rapidly lost her appetite after reading the headline, so she’d offered to read out the paper to everyone while they finished eating.
"Does Riddle ever give up?" she railed angrily. "Our generation is not a bunch of pedigreed cattle. We are people with loves and lives of our own. The marriage law failed. Riddle lost. Halfbloods can’t be legally forced to marry according to the algorithm. Wizards and witches can marry whoever they like—but once again he’s trying to coerce us with his twisted propaganda."
"Hear, hear," said Archie, as Sirius started clapping.
Remus picked up the paper and started leafing through it while Lily magicked the table clean and James went to fetch tonight’s dessert.
"Riddle can’t try again with the marriage law, thanks to Rigel," Remus said calmly. "We just have to remind everyone what the law is."
"The smarter approach would be to devote the Unspeakable Research budget to finding a cure for the Fade," suggested Archie.
Lily snorted as James came back into the dining room with a luscious looking chocolate mud cake.
"That would just be wasting money," she responded.
"Remus and I have been in discussions with the Unspeakables about the Dark Defense Disk. I’ve handed over all my notes, explained the process ad nauseam and even demonstrated it four times, but they still haven’t managed to replicate my methodology. Meanwhile, Remus and I have created four more disks. The next three are yours, by the way," Lily said, nodding at Harry, Archie and Addy, as she used her magic to cut and apportion the cake.
"Not that I expect any of you to ever be in the position where you'd need them, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
Another flick of her wand and the tea tray gently flew from the kitchen to the dining table.
"I told the Unspeakables that I’d only give them Disks for distribution after my family was safe."
"Cake! Chockie cake! Now!" Addy called imperiously from her high chair.
"What’s the magic word, Addy?" asked James, unable to resist his youngest daughter.
"Pwease," scowled the toddler. "Pwetty pwease."
Lily smiled as she magicked a plate of cake over to Addy as she said to James. "It’s your turn to bath her tonight, dear."
James looked at the chocolate cake that Addy was now happily squishing with both hands. There seemed to be more cake on Addy’s face, hands and hair than in her mouth. He groaned, grabbed the Daily Prophet off Remus and hid behind it.
Remus sighed resignedly, focussing on his chocolate cake instead. He knew when to pick his battles.
"Sounds like Shaped Imbuing all over again," said Harry, smirking, glad that it wasn’t her turn to bath Addy tonight.
"Last I’d heard, the Unspeakables were still unable to do it. As far as I know, Master Snape, Caelum Lestrange and I are the only ones who can Shaped Imbue."
James suddenly looked up from his perusal of the Prophet.
"Sirius, Archie, I think you’d better have a look at this," he said.
"The Black family has received a rating of 'moderate' for risk of extinction, and Archie’s personal risk rating if he marries a pureblood is high."
Sirius snatched the paper out of James’s hands.
"Ooo look. Regulus is here, and his personal risk rating is 'extreme'. I wonder who his perfect arithmantic algorithm match is," Sirius sniggered as he rustled through the paper to get to pages 6 to 12.
Archie shook his head.
"I’m not marrying a pureblood, so it’s irrelevant. Hermione’s research, which is pretty amazing by the way, has shown that the Fade doesn’t affect couples where one of the partners has a muggleborn parent or grandparent."
Archie’s face took on the beatific look it always did when he thought of Hermione.
"I want to marry Hermione—if she’ll have me. Besides, I have full confidence that she’ll succeed in her work to cure the Fade. Her theories are mind blowing, but most importantly, they are supported by empirical evidence and experimentation. When you add in the work Harry’s done on core diving and her shaped imbuing potions technique, we’re well on the way to solving the Fade."
Remus smiled as he poured himself a cup of tea. "You guys really did raise amazing children."
"Core diving?" Lily asked, turning to look intently at Harry. "What’s that?"
"Something I learned from Rigel," muttered Harry, trying to hide her annoyance that Archie had mentioned core diving. They hadn’t really discussed how they were going to proceed with it now that Rigel was no longer available.
James’s attention perked up at the mention of Rigel, and Harry was forced to continue.
"It’s how Rigel cured the sleeping sickness. It involves travelling through another person’s magical core. Apparently he’d explained it to lots of people and it didn’t make any sense to them, but I had no problem understanding it. But this was ages ago, before second year."
Thankfully for Harry, Sirius’s incredulous snort about Severus Snape rapidly changed the topic.
"Highly recommended! The Unspeakables have rated Snivellous highly recommended as a marriage partner for a pureblood. Snivellous! No wonder you think that the Unspeakables are useless!"
James laughed, but Harry just bristled.
"I think you’re being very unfair to Master Snape. He’s an incredible potions master. A genius."
"But would you want to marry him?" asked Sirius.
"No," Harry replied. "But I don’t particularly want to marry anyone. I haven’t even turned 15 yet! I want to get my potions mastery and help Archie and Hermione cure the Fade first."
"That’s my girl," said James, coming over to ruffle Harry’s hair.
"Dad! You're responsible for giving me the Potter mop. It’s not fair that you deliberately mess it up even further," scowled Harry, as she tried to fix her hairstyle.
"You never used to complain."
"That’s because my hair was short and not held back by a ribbon."
Archie laughed. "Well, Harry, your hair’s not held back by a ribbon now."
The room suddenly dimmed. Lily responded immediately, waving her wand to light the many magic candles in the dining room.
Remus was staring at the ever darkening sky through the window.
"That’s a strange looking cloud."
"That’s not a cloud, Remus," said Sirius, peering out the window. "That’s a plague of owls."
"The collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament, Sirius," Lily responded. "Not a plague."
"I think if you look carefully at the group of owls that’s fast approaching, then you too will agree that it’s a plague of owls!" Sirius replied.
"What part of morning do those blighted birds not understand about morning post?" grumbled James as he picked up the paper that Sirius had discarded.
"That’s the second time tonight we’ve had evening owl deliveries. I thought I had the owl wards set to avoid this."
There was a sinking feeling in Harry’s stomach. She had a horrible feeling that she knew what those owls were bringing. And why the owl wards weren’t stopping them.
"Harry, are you okay?" asked Archie. "You’re looking rather pale all of a sudden."
"Merlin’s saggy tits!" swore James.
"Language dear," Lily replied, calmly conjuring pink fluffy ear muffs in the pretense of keeping her two year old daughter’s ears a swearing free zone.
"Look at this! The bloody Prophet’s rated Harry as "Extremely Sought After"!"
Sirius smiled beatifically. "You should be proud of your extremely sought after daughter."
"She’s the only one with this rating! The next level down is "Highly Recommended".
"Actually, James," said Remus, reading over James’s shoulder, "Addy’s also rated as "Extremely Sought After."
"At least I’m not the only one," said Harry faintly.
"Addy is two!" shrieked James. "That’s way too young to get married."
"Well, I think you’ll have plenty of reasons for agreeing to a long engagement," snickered Sirius.
"Sirius!" scolded Lily.
"Sorry Lils. Just a bit of payback. I remember how much fun James had laughing at me when my parents were trying to set up a marriage contract for me. Not that I let them, of course. Diana was only ever going to be the one for me."
The mood in the room dropped rapidly.
"I think I’ll go to bed early," said Harry. "Can Archie stay over?"
Harry didn’t want to admit that she was feeling a bit fragile—but Riddle's latest move in the marriage war had really rattled her—and she really wanted support from her brother-in-all-but-blood.
Remus elbowed Sirius before Sirius could make what Sirius was sure to think was a smart remark but probably wasn’t.
"Of course, Fawn, " said Lily. "You know that the spare bed in Harry's room is always ready for you, Archie."
"Don’t hurt the owls," pleaded Archie. "It’s not their fault that they’re being used so abominably."
"And please save the letters," requested Harry. "I’m curious to know who’s proposing, given that other than Archie, I don’t really know any pureblood males my age, except Caelum Lestrange and Leo Hurst. Oh, and the assorted Weasleys, I suppose."
James’s face darkened at the thought.
"There’s always Snivellous," laughed Sirius.
“Snape’s a halfblood,” Remus pointed out. “It’s the purebloods who’ll be after Harry.”
Somehow that didn’t make James any happier.
"Good night everyone," Harry said firmly. "I’ll see you in the morning. Hopefully, I’ll be able to deal with my correspondence then."