Chapter 58 - Christmas Eve Ⅱ (1/2)
The five of Auror's and one unspeakable warm themselves by the fire as they eagerly sip cider mugs and munch on an apple spice tart. The six of them had actually been forced to walk through the snowy woods to arrive at Prince Manor as it was impossible to apparate as the ancient Prince Manor defenses were activated to prevent such actions including the Floo Network. ”I must say, Alastor, I'd never thought that your informant is the old Prince himself,” Percius Clements muttered as he rubbed his hands over the fire to warm them up.
”Well, Prince did have a certain reputation in the olden days,” Sara Vinovich commented as she took a sip of the hot cider. ”Most of the younger folk have forgotten, but Prince was a deadly duelist in his youth said to have never lost a single match both in legal dueling's and those not as much.”
Alastor Moody tactfully does not reply as he says, ”Prepare yourselves, we shall be performing a Fidelilus Charm tonight.”
The room goes silent as Fabian Prewett says, ”Is that really necessary?”
”It is given the vicious nature of who we are dealing with,” Alphard Black remarked from his seat by the fire. The room grows quiet as they all solemnly contemplate the events of the last month. Soft footsteps are heard causing all the Auror's to straighten up as only Alphard remained seated.
The door opens to reveal a child roughly of about eleven years. Tall, thin with raven-colored hair and midnight black indigo eyes, coupled with some rather androgynous features with the only real telling gender hint, the high ponytail hinting at the child's gender being that of a female. Wearing a neat silk blue sweater and matching dark dress wear, the girl locked the door behind her. ”It's been a while, hasn't it, Moody?” Rowan commented as she crossed the room.
Their mouths flop open wide enough for a fly to easily walk in. With bulging eyes, they all turn to stare at Alastor, who casts a nonperception spell over the study room. Rowan nonchalant takes a seat next to Alphard and gives him a rare smile as she says, ”You're Sirius's uncle, aren't you?”
Alphard eyes blink rapidly in surprise, nevertheless, he smoothly replies, ”Yes, do you know him?”
”Mm, he's not all that bad, if a tad arrogant,” Rowan replied. ”Although he and Severus, my younger twin brother seem to strangely get along. A strange friendship if you don't mind my saying so.”
”That does sound like my nephew,” Alphard said with a genuine smile.
With formalities done, Alastor clears his throat as everyone's eyes turn toward him. ”I present to you, my informant, Rowan Prince,” Alastor truthfully said.
”Oh dear,” Percius faintly muttered into his mug as he took another sip.
Fabian Prewett sighs and rubs his face as he points to Rowan and says, ”You're not pulling a fast one on us are you, Alastor Moody?”
”No, I think Alastor is being quite serious,” Sara muttered as she observed the relaxed figures of Alastor and Rowan.
Alastor allows everyone a moment to wrap their heads around the idea, before turning towards Rowan. ”Well, let us begin shall we,” Alastor said causing looks of disbelief and apprehension to appear on some of the Auror's faces. ”As predicted the Death Eaters and Rockwood did indeed attempt to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic, but we were able to successfully stop them.”
”That is good to hear,” Rowan replied. ”But before we continue, won't you introduce your comrades?”
”There sitting by your side is Alphard Black, our unspeakable per to say,” Alastor Moody said as Alphard smiles drily at the joke told a thousand times before.
Pointing at Percius, Alastor continued, ”Percius Clements, don't let his pleasant façade fool you, he's our charm master and our information extractor.” Alastor moves over to Sara. ”Sara Vinovich, our all-around veteran, who's seen more dark wizards than any of us including myself.”
Alastor then points to Fabian and Gideon Prewett. ”These two are the Prewett brothers. Gideon's the good looking one on the right and the larger nosed fellow is Fabian.” Fabian glared at Alastor for his comment about his large nose as Gideon smirked at his brother. ”Anywho, these two fellows are excellent trackers and are our men on the ground given their cheery nature.”
Everyone turns towards Rowan, who says, ”I'm sure that you are all wanting an explanation and all I can say is that I have a bit of the sight.”
”That explains it,” Gideon muttered out loud as the others nod in agreement.
”I can't go into too many details into the future except to suffice to say that should Tom Riddle win, the world as we know it will come to an end,” Rowan matter-of-factly stated.
”So, he's aiming that big, huh,” Fabian muttered under his breath. ”The bastard.”
”So, what can you tell us?” Sara pointedly asked.
”I can tell you of movements that I am certain of, but most of that which I have seen will not happen for twenty years or so to speak. I am largely going off of what can be and not necessarily what is,” Rowan replied. ”And that is not excluding the fact that more we change now, the less I know of the future.”
”A paradoxical conundrum, huh,” Percius mused out loud.
”In that case, tell us, what can be done, farseer?” Alphard readily said, much more use to these type of questions as an unspeakable.
”We attack his supplies and chip away at his strength,” Rowan firmly replied. ”This will be a war about who can outplay who.”
”Good, we'll set our own plan in motion,” Alastor said in satisfaction. After all, just this evening word had reached an informant of the true identity of Tom Marvolo Riddle had begun to spread. As an Auror, he couldn't very well miss this golden opportunity.
”I'll leave that type of planning to your more experienced selves. Although, you should be prepared as I sense that other dangerous factions may eventually become involved,” Rowan carefully said.