The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 27 November 2009

Chapter 52: The Women Step Up

It was January 7, 1980 and they guys went into the training rooms on the second level to begin training. Becca was going to miss them, but had her own agenda with the women of the pureblood families. Today she was going to meet with Walburga Black for tea and a chat. Becca knew this ‘chat’ was going to be more like the inquisition and was resigned to her fate as she could use the older women’s help.

The past week had been a whirlwind of activity. The potion was distributed to three packs of the werewolves in France and another two here in England. There were orders for more and they were starting to get inquiries from other countries based on the results reported from the French Ministry of Magic.

Harry and Severus finally went to Doc and had a little facial reconstruction done. Not enough to change them drastically, but subtle differences so that they would not be mistaken for their counterparts in this time line. Severus was the hardest to have done. His counterpart was already here and about in the community and he needed more changed than Harry.

The amazing thing was Severus Snape. He said that his meeting with the Dark Lord had been quite successful and he had been given permission to ‘enter the enemy’s territory’ and ‘find out all you can about those people’ to quote ‘What’s His Name’ as Harry put it. Becca couldn’t help but laugh every time she heard that phrase. Snape was actually going to start training with the others this morning.

Becca had been given a long list of ‘Severus’ and Harry’s do’s and don’ts’ (mostly don’ts) from the two men before they went with the others to train. Don’t go anywhere without your cloak on, don’t go anywhere without Seventh Born, don’t go anywhere without your wand and the list went on. Don’t forget to eat every meal, don’t forget to take your supplements, and don’t forget to get plenty of rest...

Becca’s list of don’ts included; don’t treat me like a child, don’t tell me what to do, don’t tell me where I can go, don’t tell me when to eat… She was twenty five years old, not five years old. Only problem was, Becca’s list of don’ts stayed in her head as she didn’t want an argument with her two favorite guys. Deep down she knew they were only trying to protect her, but it was still aggravating.

She sighed and moved away from the breakfast table. It was time to start getting ready for Lady Black and her inquisition. They were to meet mid morning and have a visit. Becca wasn’t even told if Lady Malfoy would be there, but she wouldn’t be surprised. She would love to see the twins again to see how they were doing.

Becca had been sent a portkey to arrive at Black Manor on Grimmauld Place at ten o’clock sharp. She decided not to use it and used her own instead. So when she arrived in the foyer of the house instead of the sitting room where the original portkey was to place her, Lady Black let out a shriek.

“Who dares enter my house without my permission?” You could hear her screaming from the other room. Obviously this was not where she had planned for Becca to land. Becca cringed at the screaming and remembered the shrieking portrait in the hallway from her own time. She hoped that Lady Black was not too upset and would forgive her. It was just easier to use her necklace than other portkeys.

When Walburga Black entered the foyer, the last thing she had expected to see was Becca Prince standing there straightening her royal blue robes and looking innocent. Walburga knew she had set the portkey for the sitting room. No one could have changed her portkey and no one could get past the wards without it. This Becca Prince was a mystery and she was going to unravel it one way or another.

“How did you get in the entryway, when I set the portkey for the sitting room?” Lady Black asked suspiciously. Becca, knowing that she couldn’t answer, just shrugged her shoulders and handed Lady Black her own portkey back.

Walburga accepted the magical device, looked at it closely and set the matter aside for later. She was after all the perfect hostess and she had invited the young lady over for tea. “Come this way and we will partake of some refreshments.” She said a little sternly.

Becca, knowing exactly where they were going, followed the older woman to the sitting room where she saw a low table with the tea service and biscuits spread out between two matching antique Elizabethan chairs. The heavy wood with ornate carvings did not look comfortable and Becca had the feeling that this is exactly why this area was chosen for their tête-à-tête. Lady Black, however, looked quite comfortable in the very austere and formal surroundings. Becca, not to be outdone, perched herself in a very lady like pose in one of the chairs after waiting for her hostess to indicate which chair she was to use. The hard wood was very unforgiving on her bottom and she knew she would be sore by the time she got home.

“Is that your familiar you asked permission to bring?” The older woman asked, pointing to the carry case that Becca still had in her hand.

“Yes, it is. Would it be alright if I let her out? It is for my protection and she gets restless when locked up in the case.” Becca had promised her two men that she would not go anywhere without it so had owled Lady Black the day before about bringing her familiar with her. She just ‘forgot’ to mention it was a baby basilisk.

Permission was granted by the austere woman and Becca proceeded to pull the snake out of the case. Walburga’s eyes got big and round, but being the lady she was, did not make comment. After all, half the furniture in the house had snakes carved into the surfaces.

“What is your snake’s name, dear?” Walburga asked trying to make polite conversation.

“This is Seventh Born.” Becca answered. “She is very friendly and will not harm anyone that doesn’t try to harm me. She will want to move around the room to make sure there are no dangers, with your permission of course.” Now Becca had already had a conversation with Regulus when he informed her, Harry and Severus about the prophecy. She waited for Walburga’s response with a small mental smirk.

Walburga nodded her head in assent and Becca placed Seventh Born on the floor. She did not speak to the snake having had an earlier conversation with her. She wanted to be able to read Walburga’s reactions before letting her know that she was a parslemouth.

They both watched as the snake slithered around the room, looking for dangers. Then, surprising Becca, the snake left the room for other parts of the house. She had told her familiar to stay close unless she sensed danger and needed to move, but she hadn’t expected the snake to go any where else in the house.

Walburga actually breathed a sigh of relief. She may like them as decoration, but she definitely didn’t want a real one so close to her. Becca however stood up and started to follow the snake.

“Excuse me Lady Black. She was not to leave the room unless she sensed something. I feel that she may have gone after your elf. She won’t kill him, but she would corner him until I let her know everything is alright.” Actually, Becca didn’t believe Seventh Born went after Kreacher. She already knew his counterpart and was expecting him in the house. Something else was gong on and Becca didn’t want to alarm Lady Black.

Both women followed where Seventh Born was slithering rather quickly. They had to walk briskly to keep up with the movements of the snake. When they reached the kitchen down the stairs, Becca found that the snake had indeed cornered something. She turned to Walburga and motioned with a finger to her lips to stay silent and to leave the kitchen to the next room.

“I believe you have an intruder.” The younger informed the lady of the house. “It seems as if you have a rat in the kitchen.” When Walburga started to protest that her house didn’t have filthy pests, Becca quickly interrupted her. “This one is not what it seems. It is an animagus and I happen to know there is a rat animagus that follows, as Harry would say, What’s-His-Name.”

Walburga was not happy about that news. It meant somehow this rat got into her house undetected. She would get rid of it and send those people a message they would not soon forget. She blustered and pulled out her wand and pulled herself together to go and kill the rat. But Becca gently touched her arm to get her attention.

“How are your obliviation skills?” She asked the older woman.

“The best, you can’t be a Black and not have them.” Lady Black answered, wondering what the young woman was up to.

“I suggest we interrogate this intruder and see how he got in. We could also find out who he is and what he wants.” Becca said in a conspiratorial whisper. “Then you could obliviate him and send him on his way. But, before we do that, we need a portkey to send him somewhere else. We don’t want him finding the house again after he leaves.”

Walburga liked the way this young woman thought. She must be Slytherin or at least have Slytherin tendencies. Yes, this was a much better plan and she was ashamed for not thinking of it herself.

Becca thought about taking a scarf out of her pocket to use, but then thought better of it as it might lead the Death Eaters to believe that the Princes had some sort of relationship with the Blacks. This could make them an even bigger target for the mad man. So she watched as Lady Black pulled a piece of trash out of the bin, and then with her wand and a simple “portus” made a portkey. It took quite a bit of power to make one and it was one of the few things Becca had never been able to master with her limited power.

They entered the room and Becca went to pull Seventh Born out of the way so Walburga could stun the rat. Becca didn’t have any veritaserum on her, but she thought she could scare the truth out of him just as well.

After he was stunned, Lady Black hit the rat with another spell that would force him to change out of his animagus form. There sat Peter Pettigrew in the chair. She then sent ropes around him and rennerverated him so they could ask him questions. As the man rat came to, Becca wanted to strangle him for the deaths he caused with his sniveling to that mad man he called master. Even now, as he sat in the chair, he was begging to not be killed and to be forgiven for his intrusion.

“Who are you and how did you get into this house?” Walburga spat the question out of her mouth even as she pointed her wand into the stranger’s face. “I demand to know how you managed to get into my house!”

“Oh, please don’t hurt me.” The animagus cried. “I didn’t mean any harm.”

“I suggest you start answering some questions, mister.” Becca said to the man she loathed. She held her snake up into his face, while Seventh Born hissed menacingly at him.

“I…I got tt… cc … caught in t.t…the groceries.” He said. “I was in the box when it was delivered yesterday.” The man stuttered at the two women.

“How did you know my grocer was delivering groceries to me?” The older woman demanded.

“It was an accident; I didn’t know who was getting groceries. I just wanted to go to sleep and hid in the box.”

Seventh Born spoke to her owner for the first time. **“He’s lying Mistress.”**

“Did you know a snake can tell when you are lying to them?” Becca told the intruder.

“Who are you?” Walburga demanded of the man again.

“P…P…Peter …P…P…Pettigrew, Madam.” The animagus was stuttering again.

“Pettigrew? I have heard that name before. Aren’t you one of my son’s friends? Don’t you know Sirius Black?”

Peter sighed in relief that she associated him with Sirius and not Regulus and the Dark Lord. Maybe she would let him go if she thought he was a friend of the family. “Yes, madam, we went to school together.”

Becca wanted to get this over with so she asked point blank, “Are you a Death Eater?”

The little rat of a man started to shake again. “No, I am a friend of Sirius Black.”

The snake hissed at him again with more venomous tones than before. “You are a liar Mr. Pettigrew.”

“Enough of this.” Walburga Black stated. With a flick of her wand, the young man’s coat and shirt were removed. There on his arm was the mark of a Death Eater. She had seen enough and shouted “Obliviate” and a gazed look came over the man. She then threw the portkey at him and said “Portus” and the man disappeared. His coat and shirt still banished.

Becca was impressed and she turned to Lady Black and asked, “Where did you send him?”

“To the middle of the Forest of Dean.” was her reply. Becca raised her hand to her mouth and tried to smother a giggle. But when she looked at Walburga she couldn’t help it, she burst out into very unlady like laughter and soon the older woman was descretely following. He would have a hard time getting back to civilization without a wand and no coat nor shirt.

When they had composed themselves, Walburga looked at Becca and said, “Shall we retire to the library and let the elf bring us something to eat. I do believe it is almost lunchtime.”

“That would be lovely, Lady Black.” Becca replied. At least she would be in a more comfortable chair. The furniture in the library was antique, but it was cushioned.

After getting situated in the library and being served lunch, the women were a little more comfortable with each other and speaking about several things to do with pureblood supremacy.

“So you believe what Salazar was telling me last week. We should keep our squibs in our world and keep the muggles out of it.” Walburga asked Becca.

“It would keep our world more separated and eventually we would not have any newborn witches and wizards from the outside world. It would keep our heritage more secure and we would not be losing our own people. It would also keep families from being torn apart when a squib is born and our pureblood lines would not die out the way they are now.”

“Yes, but how do you go about doing that now that so many generations are in the muggle world.”

“It will take time. First some of the laws need to be changed, and then it will take generations to purge our people from the muggle world. My thought is to start with muggle orphanages and bring those children that are magical into our world as an infant. Then work on the others. We just need to start somewhere.”

As they sat and spoke about this for the better part of an hour, Becca lost track of Seventh Born and started calling her.

“Seventh Born, where are you? You were told to stay close.” Becca called out into the room. The snake crawled out from under the sofa and hissed to her mistress.
** “I am here Mistress, I didn’t leave the room. I was hiding from the elf as I didn’t want to scare him.” **

“Ah there you are. I was wondering where you had gone. Did you think the elf would be scared? I think he already knows about you.” Becca said in English as she still wasn’t sure about Walburga knowing of her ability to speak to snakes.

“Why is her name, Seventh Born? It is an unusual name for a snake, don’t you think?” Walburga asked.

Here it is, the moment of truth. The Prince family had decided it would be alright to tell her about The Seven. So she started to explain about how they came to be.

“Seventh Born is so named because she is one of The Seven. They are a family of snakes all hatched at the same time from Salazar Slytherin’s familiar that was in the Chamber of Secrets. She and her nest mates are living with us and have chosen to be our familiars and protectors. They say they were bred for our protection.”

It was nice to see the woman speechless. It was totally out of character for her, but quite enjoyable to see.

“How could you possibly know this? They could just be seven snakes, why do you think they are called The Seven?”

“They told us.”

“They couldn’t possibly have told you, unless you can speak their language and understand them.”

“That’s right.” Becca replied simply.

Walburga actually slumped into her seat. She them mumbled but Becca could still hear her, “The Seven is a group of snakes and you have control over them. The royals have come.”

Becca allowed the woman a few minutes to process the information she had been given and then changed the subject completely.

“We need to reset your wards to eliminate the possibility of another animagus sneaking into your home. Come.” As Becca stood up, she held her hand out to the lady of the house and helped her up so they could go into yet another room where the family seal was located under the Oriental rug.

Walburga Black didn’t ask her how she knew it was there. Accepting the fact that this young woman knew a great many things and would explain when she wanted to. They pulled back the run and Becca moved the older woman to stand in the middle of the crest.

“This is the center of the family magic. In fact if you look, you will see that this room is in the center of the house and the crest in the center of the room. You need to stand in the exact center of the crest and the magic of the ancestors Black will be your guide and strength to help you. Eventually you can even be taught to pull magical strength from this crest as Lady Black. Your sons may also do this, but they don’t know how yet.

Lady Black nodded her head and stood exactly in the center of the crest. She then looked to Becca for further instructions.

“You need to cut your hand and let seven drops of your blood land on the crest, and then ask the house to reset the wards to expel all animagus intruders in their animal form. As long as you have a mind set for this, we don’t need an exact spell. The magic will read your intent and do as you ask. Do you understand?”

Again Walburga nodded.

“After you are finished, you need to let seven more drops of blood fall on the crest to seal the changes and end the request.”

Walburga went to the mantel and got out the Black family athame that was kept there in a sealed box. She returned to the center of the family crest and concentrated her mind on what she wanted to accomplish. Then she did exactly as Becca told her to do. As she finished with the last of the second blood sacrifice, she could feel the wards resettling and strengthening.

“I can feel the difference in the wards. How did you know how to do that?”

“All manors are the same in pureblood families. The teachings have been lost in time, but the crests still work. The family magic is sentient. The older the manor or castle of a pureblood family the stronger the wards. As the family members die, their energy and magic are collected by the main house. It has been this way for over a thousand years.”

“Is that why the wards around Hogwarts are so strong?”

“Basically, but remember that the founders have no heirs so the castle collects the energy from the use of the students’ magic in the school.” Becca explained.

“Will you come for tea again? I would like the other women of some of the more prominent families to come and meet you. Narcissa would like to visit with you again and after I tell her about today, she will be most anxious for it to be soon.” Walburga said.

“You should tell her I can remove the mark. I know she has it, because the twins were not squibs, their power was drained as mine was before birth. Any other ladies that may want their marks removed are welcome as well, but we will have to be very careful not to let Vol…” she stopped as she watched Lady Black suppress a shudder, “Tom Riddle to find out what we are doing. He may get mad and take his displeasure out on their husbands. I know this will be a problem for the next two years. We will have to be very careful.”

Walburga nodded and walked with Becca as they left the ritual room. “When would you like to visit again?”

“My schedule is really very flexible, Lady Black. You and Lady Malfoy can discuss it and owl me later. It will be a pleasure to see you and meet with the other ladies. I am looking forward to it.”

She then went into the sitting room where she had left the carrier for Seventh Born. She spied the two other boxes she had brought and had forgotten in the turmoil of Peter Pettigrew.

“Oh, Lady Black, I am so sorry, I almost forgot.” Becca exclaimed as she picked up the boxes. “These are for you and Lady Malfoy. They are special cloaks for you to wear when you leave the house.”

“Why are they special?” The Black Matron asked looking at the magnificent outer robe that was very soft and stylish.

“They are made of Basilisk skin and are very resistant to spells. If someone throws a stunner at you while you are out, it won’t even affect you. I apologize for not giving it to you earlier, with all the excitement of the rat, it completely left my mind.” She knew it was definitely a breach of etiquette to not bring the lady of the house a present when invited for the first time to tea.

“Think nothing of it my dear. We were a little busy with other matters earlier. I will make sure that Narcissa gets her’s as well. Do you need a portkey to get back home?”

“No, Lady Black, I have my own, thank you.” Becca then remembered her manners again and said the proper response to leaving tea with the great lady. “It has been most agreeable to have been with you today. I am most appreciative of the sacrifice of your time.”

Walburga responded, “It has been most pleasurable to have you here. I have enjoyed our time together. Please have a pleasant remainder of the day.” The ladies bowed gracefully to each other and Becca collected her things and bid the other woman goodbye before reaching for her necklace and finding the correct link. “Prince Stronghold Manor” she said before she was pulled at her navel and disappeared from site.

Walburga Black then went to the floo and called for Narcissa to come as soon as possible.


A/N Walburga Black seems to be out of character, and she is a little. But my understanding of her character was that she loved the pureblood following, but did not agree with Voldemort’s way of handling the situation. She was said to have gone mad after her husband died and her only remaining son disappeared. Since her son was a member of the Death Eaters, I believe she would blame the light side or blood traitors for his death thus creating more hatred for all those on the light side. Since I have changed that, I have allowed for her change of character.

Several people have reviewed that they thought Severus was too out of character and that Harry was a wimp. As far as Severus goes, yes he is out of character, but his life has changed. We have not seen him in a classroom setting, nor as a Death Eater. Circumstances will always change a person. As far as Harry goes, he was beaten to near death and pregnant. His hormones will settle soon as we will start to see in his training that his strength is back. We have been looking at them mostly in a family setting at home, not out in the world fighting. As this changes I think you will see them more in character as they are in the books.

As usual my special thanks go to everyone who reviewed. Yes even the critics that don’t like the story. So thank you to those who have reviewed since my last update Judy, Kim, nari-chan, kaasan, yamiyomi and Jen.