The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 16 February 2010

Chapter 74 War and Rumors of War

It was the first Monday in November and Becca was going to the first, Ladies Social Club, meeting since the latter end of her pregnancy. She was looking forward to seeing the women and ‘catching up’ with the news of how things were going. Some of them were married to men that were still Death Eaters, but only very few now. Most of the men had been freed from that awful curse and were eternally grateful. It would be her first time seeing Narcissa also, since the birth of Evan. Not everyone knew about the second child so she would be careful to not say anything with other people in the room.

Walburga was the one that greeted her as she came into the foyer. The meeting today was at her house.

“Becca. It is so agreeable to see you here today. How is the little one?” Walburga was completely out of character when she put her arms around Becca to greet her, but then whispered in her ear, “Stay after the meeting, we need to talk.”

Becca gave a brief nod and lightly hugged the woman back before answering with a smile, “The little one is fine and getting bigger every day.”

As she socialized with the ladies and heard all the news that she had missed while incapacitated, Becca did not see Narcissa. She hadn’t heard from her either and was starting to worry about her friend.

During her time there she did find out, that through the contacts they had made, they found ten more squib children and twelve more magical squib born that were orphans of varying ages of five through eleven and they were in the process of obtaining custody on three and already had custody of the others. It seems that magical squibs are hard to find homes for as they can exhibit some ‘strange’ behavior from time to time and these were still in the orphanages around the country. It was gratifying for Becca to know that the search had continued even in her absence. Now that they understood about keeping the magic together, the women had become formidable in their effort to help those that belonged in their world. Naturally they would help those that were especially of pureblood heritage.

Another thing the women had been doing is inviting more witches to the meetings and helping them understand their family’s residual magic in their manor homes. Some of the women were not considered pureblood, nor were they followers of Voldemort, but they were possible targets. The blood magic and power magic they could use to access the family magic, from the crests in the manor, was a lost art. The spells that Becca had shown and taught to Narcissa and Walburga were being used to enhance and even recreate the wards around their homes to better protect their families from the hard core Death Eaters that still followed Voldemort. She smiled as a few of the women even referred to him as “What’s-his-name”. Harry would be proud.

The best news of all was that some of the ladies that had attended the wedding were now pregnant; even one that had not been able to conceive at all. And it seemed that not only were the women embracing the new teachings of the true old ways, they were embracing the idea of helping their world to become bigger and therefore stronger. Some had even formed covens with the other women within their families and were studying the old family traditions to gather the family together in strength and harmony. In a few of the books that were to be published, these practices could be found. Becca had taken advanced copies of the books and brought some of them to give to the ladies; especially those that were married to the Lord and Head of House of the prominent families. A family that studied together, practiced together and carried on family traditions together, was a family that stayed strong together.

In all of these revivals of the old practices, there was one very strong theme; keep the family safe and powerfully protected and think for yourselves. Do not follow someone else unless it was for the good of the family, and helped to keep them safe. It worked something like this; your gifts come first, they protect the family; your family was next because in keeping the family together, there was power in numbers; prosperity always followed in work and investments when the family worked together and then entertain other teachings outside the family. They were taught that when the family is in discord, the combined powers weaken and the posterity was divided. These women would be the forefront of the new world of wizardkind.

The meeting was coming to a close and Becca had answered many questions about some of the rituals and spells that were written about in a book called, A Woman's Guide to Strengthen the Family, Back to the Old Ways. After the women left and it was just her and Walburga, the older woman went to another room and came back with Narcissa Malfoy.

"Narcissa!" Becca cried in excitement at seeing her friend. "I thought you hadn't come!" She pulled on her friend’s hand and they sat down to chat.

"So tell me, how have you been? How are the babies? Is everything alright?" Becca watched the other woman's face as she looked at her aunt and then back at Becca.

"The children are fine, but I needed to talk to you. Lucius has moved us to the Summer Villa in France for safety reasons." Then she started to tell her story. Bella had come to her about babies born in July and had alerted Narcissa that the Dark Lord was on a quest to find one with the power to vanquish him. Bella had told Narcissa it was imperative that all their contacts be used to locate the information. Narcissa, she knew, had contacts at St. Mungo's and with some of the other midwives and could get this information. The staunch Voldemort follower new of the ladies meetings and although thought they were too trivial to attend herself wanted Narcissa to question the women. She even questioned the birth date for Draco.

"Becca, I was so scared she would realize I didn't have the mark anymore. She has always been so enamored with the Dark Lord that she is blinded to his faults and his cruelty. Bella has always been a little on the cruel side herself, even as we were growing up. I couldn't let her get near my children for fear she would do something to hurt them. Thank the goddess they were sleeping during her visit so I had an excuse not to disturb them."

Becca glanced over to Walburga and could see that she, too, was worried about her niece and the children. "So what are your plans now?"

"My sister knows very little about the Malfoy family. We have let it be known that we are helping an aunt of Lucius' with her estate in France as she has not long to live. Since he is the Lord and Head of the Malfoy family this is not an unusual request. It also excuses Lucius from meetings as the farther we are the weaker the call. We hope to come back when the suspicion of Draco being this prophesied child blows over. I just don't know what to believe about this situation."

"Narcissa, you do know that Draco is not the prophesied child, don't you?" Becca wanted to reassure her friend. "Did Bella tell you anything about what 'that man' was told?"

"Something about as the seventh month dies. I know it is not Draco, but then I was afraid that I might give away the information about Evan's birth. I didn't want anything to happen to you or him."

"Narcissa, the prophesied child is not Evan either. Do not worry about this any longer. I will tell the men when I get home and we will work this out. I already know who the child is."

"You do? I thought..." Narcissa faltered a bit then said, "I thought when she said, a child born as the seventh month dies, that for sure it would be Evan, given the power of his parents."

"I will say this if you give me your oath not to tell anyone." The other two women nodded even as Becca cast a silencing charm around the three of them. "Evan is not the prophesied child; he is born FROM the prophesied child of another time line. That child was thrust in front of the mad man, who tortures for amusement, with no training and no true understanding of what was going on. He was thrust into the fray alone with no one to help, even though he was a child facing a grown man with years of experience. He was set up for failure by those that were believed to be of help to him. So we came back in time to set things right."

“Then you should know the Dark Lord is searching for this child so he can kill him before he grows up to become a threat.” Narcissa responded.

“I know, but he will not succeed. I am glad you gave me this information. It is time for the next step in our plans. Please tell Lucius to be careful and all will be settled by this time next year. I do need to speak with him if he is staying out of town. There is something we need from him to make our plans successful.” Becca said mysteriously. She did not know if Narcissa knew of the diary that belonged to Tom Riddle, but she didn’t want to say anything without Lucius there.

Becca looked both Walburga and Narcissa in the eye before saying, “You must be extra careful. Do not go anywhere without your cloaks on. The basilisk skin is spell resistant. Warn Lucius to do the same. Keep your emergency port keys with you at all times, just in case someone tries to abduct you.” She turned to speak to Walburga, “Your son, Regulus, always wears his all the time, we require it of him.”

Narcissa then asked Becca worriedly, “The war is escalating then, isn’t it?”

“Yes. You both know that we can protect you if you want to come to Prince Manor.” When they started to object she said, “I know you want to stay in your homes and you feel as if you are abandoning them by leaving, but remember your training. No one will be able to get in the house if you are not here. You can set the wards to allow no one entry in your family home. Also, it is not cowardly to seek safe shelter for your children. They must be protected for future generations.”

Walburga answered the young woman and said, “Its not just abandoning our homes, Becca, it’s the other women that need the information we have. It’s the lessons on keeping their homes safe and its giving them a choice when we find another Death Eater wife that is scared for her family as Voldemort loses more of his sanity.”

Becca nodded to them, knowing that they knew the risks. “Just remember what I said about protecting you.”

After the two women nodded their understanding, agreeing to think about it if things got any worse, Becca took her leave saying she needed to let the others know what Narcissa had told her. She hugged both women before she left admonishing them once again to be careful and to let her know if they needed any help.

When she arrived at the manor…

“Severus!” she shouted as she entered their quarters, “Harry!” she shouted again, “Salazar” she shouted the third name. ‘Men’ she thought to herself, ‘they are never there when you need them’.

“Seventh Born” she said just as her familiar came into the room.

**“Do you know where the others are?”** Becca hissed at the snake. At the snake’s nod she then asked, **“Can you get them for me, it is an emergency.”** The snake slithered off to collect the residents of the manor and Becca went to the floo to call the others.

“Gorbink, we need to have a meeting as soon as possible. Can you come here now or are you busy?” Becca asked the goblin without even a greeting of any kind.

“I can arrive now.” The goblin said, realizing something was wrong just by the way Becca had addressed him. She cut the floo call off and then made another.

“Shashi, I need to meet with you and the others right now. Are you free and able to come?” The elf was surprised at the urgency in which he was spoken to and decided he would cancel his appointments and come see what the problem was.

“Can you give me five minutes to clear my schedule?” he asked.

“Yes, it will take me that long to gather the others. Thanks.” Becca cut off that floo call also to make her next call.

“Regulus, I need you here as fast as possible.” Becca stated as soon as she made the next connection.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked in surprise at her abrupt manner.

“Yes” was the only answer he received before she cut off the call so she could make another to Moony, Snape, Remus Sr. and Tonks.

So in the space of five minutes, Becca had all the people that had come from the other time lines to save baby Harry, as well as those recruited later.

Just as she completed her floo calls, Severus and Salazar came into the room. “What’s wrong?” Severus asked immediately he spotted her in the room.

“Where is Harry? I have arranged a meeting to take place, now. I have information everyone needs to hear and we have to make plans.”

“I think he is in the nursery with the children. Do you want me to get him?”

“Please” was the terse response.

Severus left the room to locate his husband, wondering what the problem was when everything had been going so smoothly.

When Severus returned to the sitting room with Harry in tow, he was surprised to see the room filling up with everyone that could possibly be connected to their organization in any kind of managerial capacity. Those that were connected to Becca from her own time line and those connected to Severus and Harry as well. He wondered briefly what had her so panicked to demand such a meeting.

“Everyone, I believe we will be more comfortable in the dinning room as it will sit us more comfortably.” So they all gathered in the room where tea and refreshments already set out by the elves. Severus was amazed at how fast everyone responded and the room was full to capacity. He didn’t count them but he knew there were over twenty people in the room all waiting to hear what Becca had to say.

“Today” she started to announce, “I spoke with one of our contacts and found out that Voldemort has been told about the prophecy!” she didn’t prevaricate with the news, but was blunt and to the point.

“What?” “Not Possible!” “How?” “So soon?” “What prophecy?” Everyone had started talking at once until Sal did a very un-Lord like thing and let out a shrill whistle to get everyone’s attention.

“Settle down everyone. Obviously this was not expected this soon, but we all know this was going to happen.”

“Who told him the prophecy?” Severus asked.

“I didn’t find out for sure, but I have a pretty good guess.” Becca answered back. She actually had not asked Narcissa, but she knew at this point, it was not Snape. He had been alleviated of his dark mark by then and he wouldn’t do that anyway.

“What are the plans now that this has happened?” Doc spoke up.

“That is why you are here. So we can make the correct plans. I do not believe Dumbledore is aware of Voldemort’s knowledge, so we will have to see about getting the families to go under the fidelis.

“He still does not know who the prophecy is about, so we should have some time to see how this plays out.” Shashi added to the conversation.

“He has had this information for at least two weeks and is now in the process of ascertaining who the likely child may be.” Becca told the group.

Moony was the one who spoke next, “What prophecy?”

“The prophecy that will escalate this war to new levels in Voldemort’s attempt to circumvent it.” Becca answered in a matter of fact tone.

“Do we know what it is?” he asked the woman.

Becca looked at Severus and Harry to see if they wanted to reveal the whole thing to the people in the group that didn’t know it already. It was their call to divulge as little or as much information as they wanted. It was Harry that spoke first.

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives....The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...”

When he finished, everyone was quiet for a minute as the weight of the words slowly sunk in. Many people had known about the prophecy, but few had ever really heard the whole thing. Most just had heard the interpretation of what it meant. Remus Sr. spoke up next.

“Harry, I think that is the first time I have ever heard the whole thing.” He didn’t elaborate more on the subject, but just sat there with the others.

“What exactly does that mean?” Snape asked. “You obviously have more knowledge about this than we do.”

“It means war will break out soon so Voldemort can try and kill the child before it becomes a threat. A child will be born at the end of July, the seventh month.” Severus informed his counterpart. “I can only assume that this prophecy was given in June by Sybil Trelawney?” He looked to Becca for the answer.

“My informant didn’t know, only that the prophecy was given to Voldemort. I believe that, just as in the other time a line, only part of it was heard before the spy was interrupted.”

“So he will be after all the children born at the end of July? Does that mean that Evan is at risk?” Moony asked the group.

“Evan is always at risk, just as any child of someone who defies his enemies. But Evan is not the prophesied child. It is another born as the seventh month dies.” Becca answered him.

“So that also means the Potter and the Longbottom families. They both had sons born on the last day of July. I was at the hospital when it happened.” Moony informed the group.

Regulus picked up the conversation, “Does Dumbledore know the prophecy too?”

“Yes, if everything is as it was before, the prophecy was given to Dumbledore during an interview for the Divination post at Hogwarts.” Severus explained.

“Who’s to say that it was speaking about this July instead of next year?” Regulus speculated.

“We can only hope that is what Voldemort is thinking also and that he doesn’t start attacking people that may know the answer of who the child is. Of course the prophecy does say ‘the Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal’ so this is not about who was born but about whom Voldemort chooses as his equal.” Becca reminded them. “However, we do not believe he has all of the prophecy and doesn’t know this portion of it.”

“How much does he know?” asked Snape.

“If history repeats itself, then he only knows the first two lines.”

“What are we doing here, then? I imagine you called us for more than imparting this information.” Remus Sr. said.

It was Severus that answered. “We are here to discuss battle strategies. We will be at the forefront of circumventing Voldemort’s attacks. The Order led by Dumbledore will be heavily hit and we want to save some of the people that died in the first war of our time lines. The future of the wizarding world depends on it.”

All the creatures present were then in planning and strategy mode until the wee hours of the morning. Harry and Becca took turns feeding the children as the house elves looked after them so the adults could plan. Griphook, who had arrived with Gorbink was left with a surreal feeling as once again he watched Dark Elves, Light Elves, Wizards, Witches, Goblins, Vampires and even a few house elves plan for the defensive maneuvers that would save others from the attacks of one super evil Dark Lord. The house elves were even getting ready to go from manor to manor to alert other house elves belonging to other people that were determined to be likely victims.

This was the first time Snape and Moony had been involved in a strategy session such as this. Not for the first time, they were glad they were on the winning side.

There was absolutely no doubt these people were here to win.

In the middle of the organized chaos that was going on, with different ideas and plans constantly being thrown around the table, a note appeared in thin air and dropped to the middle of the table. It said…

Five months prior. Between Manor. Silver and Black.