HP Midnight Light

- June 1980, 9 - Potter Manor in Godric's Hollow

As Sirius Apparated beyond the fence at Potter Manor, he was keenly aware of a glance from the bushes.

"Who's there?" Sirius asked sharply, raising his wand immediately, but no one answered.Years of anti-Death Eater experience led him to quickly cast a stun spell, and the red light fell into the bushes and broke several branches, but Sirius wasn't sure if he hit the target.After taking a second to check his surroundings, Sirius quickly ran across the street towards the uninhabited courtyard.

However, when he pushed aside the branches, all that appeared in front of his eyes were the messy trampled marks on the ground, not a single figure.The trampled grass and scattered tree branches stretched a dozen feet before disappearing abruptly.There was no doubt that the man had Apparated and fled to nowhere.

Sirius didn't leave immediately, he carefully looked at this area suitable for hiding, and bent down to check the mess on the ground.He was not disappointed—Among the trampled branches, Sirius found a small strand of black cloth wrapped around one of them, presumably the man accidentally let himself His robe was hooked to a strong branch.

Who would hide in the bushes in black robes and watch this block?

There is only one answer.

"You're 3 minutes late, Padfoot!" Lily opened the door, and Sirius heard James laughing upstairs, but now he has no time to greet Lily:

"Can you get James down, Lily? I have something to tell you."

Lily immediately read from his expression that this was not a joke.She nodded to let him in, then turned and ran upstairs.Less than a minute later, she and her husband came down the stairs one after the other, and Harry, who was looking around with his eyes open, was still in James' arms—as James predicted, he had Lily's eyes .

"What's the matter with you, Padfoot?" James asked, continuing to make faces at Harry. "Have you found any news about...?" he asked in a way only a few of them could understand.

"This is serious, James." Sirius spread his hands to show off his booty. "There's someone hiding in the yard diagonally across from your house. I didn't catch him, but I found this one. He's hiding in the bushes." , unquestionably a wizard, you know what that means?"

James' smile faded, and he and Lily exchanged glances, the latter with undisguised concern.

Sirius looked at the strange behavior of the couple: "What?"

"Dumbledore came over in person unexpectedly this morning. He asked us to strengthen the house's defensive spells and told us not to go out for the time being. He didn't say anything else." Lily explained irritably, "He promised We'll be back in a few days and he'll be back to explain what's going on, but…" She stopped talking, looking at James for support.

"I think maybe a few Death Eaters are after us. It doesn't matter, anyway, Lily and I have always been the object of their hatred, and it's not the first day that the Death Eaters wanted to hunt us down." James Tried to speak in an understatement, but he failed.Even in the previous state of the Order of the Phoenix where everyone was in danger, Dumbledore only reminded everyone to be careful at regular meetings. This was the first time that this kind of private warning was made.Not to mention he didn't even allow James and Lily to leave the house.

"Dumbledore must know something, maybe something happened that we don't know about." Sirius made a decision immediately, "I'm going to stay here until he explains what's going on."

"Don't get so excited, board—"

"Don't be silly, I don't care about you." Sirius interrupted him seriously, "I'm here to fulfill my duties as godfather, and Harry likes Uncle Padfoot, doesn't he?" Said Harry, who was looking around in Mu's arms, Harry giggled, and stretched out his little hand to grab Sirius' long hair, James and Lily were amused by him and laughed.It was as if the solemn atmosphere just now had never appeared before.

-June 9th - Rozier Manor

"It didn't turn out the way we thought, I mean, I thought the Dark Lord would punish them harder."

"That's impossible." Evan handed a glass of wine to Batty Jr., "Bellatrix's status in the heart of the Dark Lord is extraordinary."

Little Barty was stunned: "You mean..."

"No, I don't mean he loves her," Evan said bluntly, "but he needs her—if you know what I mean—to be a part of the Dark Lord's army, unless Bellatrix is ​​injured one day. and the Dark Lord himself, or she would never be left out."

"Then shall we continue to take some action against Bellatrix?"

Evan and Batty Jr. clinked glasses: "No need. Bellatrix may do things beyond our expectations after being forced. The current situation is very good. In my opinion, as long as she does not It’s enough that they don’t overtake us. But now there’s a problem,” Evan turned to Cornelia, “Wilkes is dead.”

"We don't need eyeliner anymore, now all the Death Eaters know who to chase," said Barty Jr. "And we have people at the Ministry of Magic."

"We have no one in one place, Barty." Evan spit out one word calmly, "Order of the Phoenix."

"I do know one person, maybe he can do something for us." Cornelia picked up the photo looted from McKinnon's house from the table, and pointed to one of them, "Peter Pedilou."

Evan frowned deeply: "But I heard that he is a timid and dull person by nature."

"He may be timid, but Peter is certainly not a fool." Cornelia drew a circle on Peter's head in the photo with her nails. "He's an Animagus."

"How is that possible!" Evan immediately denied, "Animagus needs the most powerful wizard to master—"

"I saw it with my own eyes, father." Cornelia straightened her waist, "on the day the Order of the Phoenix invaded the Dark Lord's castle, after Sirius escaped from me, I chased all the way out, but just happened to bump into another person Chasing Peter. After dodging a Killing Curse, he suddenly turned and rushed into a dead end, and then...then he suddenly changed shape, turned into a mouse, and slid along the base of the wall to nowhere."

"You didn't catch him then?"

"It's easy to catch a man, but it's hard to catch a mouse. What's more, it never occurred to me that Peter was an Animagus!" Cornelia said. Ideas for the next goal."

"But how did Pediru learn Agmanis?"

"Maybe it was taught by Potter's group." Batty Jr. replied, "Maybe everyone in their small group is Animagus. If Pedilu is a person with a normal IQ, then he may not Will learn this magic under Potter's tutelage."

"They used to be suspicious, didn't they, Barty?" Cornelia asked. "Maybe they've been secretly practicing Agmanis since then."

"Think about their nicknames - Prongs, Padfoot, Moon Face, Wormtail...Maybe this also has a meaning that we don't know." Barty Jr. pointed to the predators in the photo one by one , "If Pedilu can become an Animagus, then there is no doubt that they are much more powerful than him."

"If everything is as you said, then Potter, Black and Lupine will be more dangerous people than Pediru." Evan stared at the photo coldly, "We should go to them first."

"That's right. But now we need someone who can break into the Order of the Phoenix, and Peter is undoubtedly the best choice." Cornelia said, "We got Peter as a pawn, and we want to do something to the three of them." It would be much easier if anything.”

A contemptuous smile flashed across Evan's face: "Pedilu..." he read in an elusive tone.

"Do you think he's not good enough to be our spy, father?" Cornelia asked sharply. The Order of the Phoenix will never think that we chose him as a spy. From our point of view, even if Peter wanted to betray one day, it would not be difficult to get rid of him."

"There was a brief dispute in the Ministry of Magic before. My father didn't reveal much to me." Barty Jr. suddenly interjected, "But judging from the meaning of his words, some suspicious people in the Order of the Phoenix It seems to be beginning to suspect that Black is the Dark Lord's man."

"This is the normal way of thinking, Father." Cornelia said, "No one will think that Peter has the courage and ability to rebel."

"But how can we control a timid person?" Evan was concerned, "If he can be bought by us so easily, it proves that he is a fool and a person with no credibility at all." .”

"It's very simple." Cornelia and Barty Jr. looked at each other, "First, we can threaten him with death if he doesn't cooperate; second, we can go to Peter's mother, who is alone Dwelling, Peter's last kin in the world. We can get her—"

"No, we can't capture her." Evan shook his head unexpectedly, "In that case, maybe Peter will ask for help from the Order of the Phoenix instead. We just need to bully him—we need to let him know that joining us can give him Bring what."

"Prove yourself." Batty Jr. said, "I know that he has always been a follower in that small group, so maybe he will be eager to be alone..."

"That's right. We'll remind him of that. In the Order he'll always be just a follower, but in the Death Eaters things will be different."

"In reality, however, he is still a follower."

"So what, we just need to satisfy Peter's vanity a little bit at the beginning, after that he is still a marionette." Cornelia glanced at Evan and made a little concession, "We can try first. If this way doesn't work, we can still use the Imperius Curse or Polyjuice Potion at worst. At worst, we can just kill him."

Evan's eyes flickered: "Then, Batty and I can immediately go to the door and talk things over with Pediru."

"Don't be so anxious, Father. Take him to the Three Broomsticks and let me talk to him." Cornelia demanded, "A woman can always persuade a man in different ways."

"The Three Broomsticks isn't safe, Leah," Barty Jr. reminded.

"However, people's moods are not stable when they revisit the old place." Cornelia pleaded again, "Let me try first, Father. Maybe I can make Peter obey us without showing my cards .”

"We agreed before that you can't leave the house for a few months, Leah." Little Barty refused.

"I'm trying to make our kid a proper Death Eater heir, Barty!" Cornelia scolded, "and with you and my father around, nothing can go wrong."

-August 9st - Burstead Manor

It was pouring rain outside the window, and between thunder and lightning Catherine heard intermittent singing from the upstairs room.This ethereal and ethereal singing sent a chill down her spine.

"Catherine!"

When the old Mrs. Bulstrode's call came, Catherine hurriedly walked towards the corridor, while warning herself again not to think about it.

"Ma'am." Unsurprisingly, she found old Mrs. Bulstrode in Olivia's room. The latter was sitting on the sofa with a gloomy face, while Olivia was standing by the window singing a song to the storm. An incomplete piece of music.Catherine noticed the overturned dresser and the mess on the ground at a glance—as expected, no one could stop a lunatic.

"Olivia isn't doing well," said old Mrs. Busted. "She's calm and violent; ..." She waved her hand wearily.

"It might be better with a therapist—"

"No!" interrupted old Mrs. Burst, almost growling, and Catherine took a step back in fright, while Olivia continued to sing, "How dare you—how dare you say that! They'll take my Olivia, they'll keep her in St Mungo's, how dare you say that! I won't let her leave me!" She glared at Catherine for a while, trembling Only then did she calm down, "Clean up here, I will cast a protective spell on this room."

"But the protective spell may be broken," said Catherine. "She's a wizard, and she has magic in her—"

"So what?" Old Mrs. Burst cast a cold glance at Catherine, "She is my Olivia!"

Catherine drew out her wand tremblingly under her knife-like gaze, and began to clean the house of what Olivia had damaged.This is not the first time this has happened in a while.Olivia's condition is getting worse.At first she seemed to be sane, but gradually she became as if she was living in her own world.At first Olivia was crying at best, then she started beating tea sets and vases, scribbling with ink on the walls, and today was the worst madness ever...

"Ma'am," Catherine hesitated before asking cautiously, "Signus..."

"I'm planning to unblock Azkaban to see if they can reduce the number of years of imprisonment for Signus." Old Mrs. Bulstrode interrupted Catherine and said self-consciously, "We may have to move to a smaller house Go, maybe sell things...but it will be worth it once Signus is back..."

Due to the lack of important evidence, Signus was only sentenced to 15 years for the rape of Azkaban.That doesn't sound long.However, as long as one enters Azkaban, one's life is almost ruined—not only spiritually and physically, but also reputation, credit and all other invisible but extremely important things.

After hearing her words, Catherine couldn't help clenching the wand in her hand.

"Sell everything?"

"Don't you understand what I'm saying? You tidy up your valuable jewelry tonight." The old Mrs. Burst ordered indifferently, "Tomorrow they will be delivered to my room."

"Can't we maintain our previous life?" Catherine asked in a low voice.

"What daydreams are you doing!" snapped old Mrs. Burst. "You used to rely on Signus to support you, and now you still plan to rely on me to support you? Dream! You will have to go out to work in the future." Make money, understand? It depends on you how we live, so you'd better earn more Galleons! I don't expect you to find any good job, but from now on, don't think of yourself as Perth Mrs. De, do you hear me?"

Catherine's face turned slightly pale, and she hurriedly lowered her head to clean up the debris on the ground.

"You are an ominous woman, a bastard, and the reputation of my family has fallen to the bottom." The old Mrs. Burst did not let it go. She repeatedly mentioned what she had repeated every day for the past one or two months, "If it weren't for You, how did my husband die, how did Cygnus go to jail, how did Olivia go crazy... You have been a monster since you were not married into the Bulstrode family, and you can't stop after that... You brought the bad luck of my whole family, you bitch, dirty bastard, and even the little bastard you gave birth to is a loser!" She suddenly mentioned Margaret while chattering, "If only Margaret was still around, she'd have a way of keeping Signus out of prison. Oh no, this shit wouldn't have happened if she'd been around!"

"She's gone! What are you talking about now!" Catherine couldn't bear to cry, the words of the old Mrs. Burst made her face disgraced and humiliated, "You obviously didn't like her before, you treated her badly, and you think she-"

"Shut up!" Old Mrs. Bulstrode suddenly kicked Catherine in the stomach. Catherine was caught off guard and slammed into the dressing table that had just been put back in place behind her. A vase fell on Catherine's head. She grabbed Catherine's hair and slammed her head against the dressing table again and again, spitting out vicious words, "If I had known this, we should have handed you over to you in the first place." To the Dark Lord, let him deal with you, a shameless woman! You were originally a plaything in the source of life plan, do you think I don't know? You only did it for the sight of Signus' fame at the time Post it upside down, you're a bitch, a whore—"

The singing stopped suddenly.Olivia turned around blankly and looked at the disheveled and irrational old Mrs. Busted. She stared at her mother for a while, and then burst into tears:

"It's all my fault, Mom, don't be angry, you can punish me. I did it all, I was naughty, Signus can't stop me—"

Such words appeared countless times in her childhood.Old Mrs. Burst stopped talking abruptly. She stared at her sobbing daughter, her face pale as if she had been stabbed in the heart by a sword.It took her a while before she managed to utter a few words: "My poor Ollie..." Then, she released Catherine's head and let her slide half dead to the floor.Old Mrs. Busted staggered and stumbled towards Olivia, and wept in her arms.

It wasn't the first time she had been beaten by old Mrs. Bulstrode.Catherine wiped the blood from her face, struggled with amazing willpower to pick up her wand and climbed up.There was pain everywhere in her body, but no one cared about her life or death.All the old Mrs. Burst's attention had been transferred to her beloved daughter, and Catherine had no intention of watching this scene of mother-daughter love. She leaned on the wall and staggered out of Olivia's room.

Millicent was still lying in the cradle looking at the ceiling and moaning and ignorant.Her mother opened the door roughly and broke in, shuffling all the jewelry of any value into a box.

"Flying around... shrinking rapidly..." Catherine walked around the room waving her magic wand. She put on a traveling cloak and simply healed the wound. Millicent seemed to realize something in the cradle Wawa burst into tears, but her mother didn't even look at her, she just raised her hand and cast her a silent spell.

Two minutes later, Catherine picked up the heavy suitcase, and Olivia was still crying upstairs.She cared neither for Millicent weeping nor for Signus in prison.Catherine walked out of the room without hesitation with a tragic heart.

Anyway, Signus is already a waste, why should she waste the rest of her life here?Was it because of the infatuation with Signus?not.As time went by, she discovered that this man who was once regarded as a god by her had stepped down from the throne at some point and fell into a quagmire.

The author has something to say:

Note:

1. If there is no accident, the following article will not describe how Cornelia persuaded Peter positively. In short, her method is to coerce and lure.

2. It seems that the original book did not specify when the Potter family was protected by the Fidelity Curse, so let’s assume that Dumbledore did not let them use the Fidelity Curse at the beginning.

3. The old Mrs. Burst has always been very clear about the relationship between Catherine and the source of life project.

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