The Necromancer

Chapter 25

Albus sat in his office and signed off on the budget for the upcoming Yule Ball with a flourish before putting the scroll aside for Minerva to collect later. Then he reached for a sherbet lemon from his candy dish and leaned back in his chair, popping the treat into his mouth. As he softly sucked on it, Albus contemplated the events of the past month.

Having Harry Potter return had proven disappointing, but on the other hand it had also opened up a few doors that had previously remained firmly closed. While Harry was still missing, his family vault had remained locked for anyone. And a missing child couldn’t officially be declared dead until they reached their maturity, so Albus had no opportunity to claim the Potter vaults for himself until Harry’s seventeenth birthday, no matter if the boy remained missing during his whole life.

James and Lily Potter had, as expected, left all their worldly belongings to their only child, in a simple, unofficial will they had drawn up quickly once Harry was born and had given to Albus for safekeeping. But since they lived in very dangerous times, they had accepted Albus’ advice to name more potential inheritors aside from their child. They had done so by adding Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew to inherit everything just in case Harry perished. They also added Albus as a final option, should none of the others be able to receive an inheritance. James and Lily figured they would rather the money go to the Order of the Phoenix, or Hogwarts should the war be over soon, then end up in the ministry’s coffers, as was the case with unclaimed vaults eventually.

Fighting a war was expensive. Safe houses had to be bought or rented, potions had to be made and lots of people needed to be bribed. Then there were those in hiding who couldn’t work and needed to be provided for. In the past, Albus had made sure to recruit wealthy young wizards and witches to his cause, who were all eager to donate to the Order of the Phoenix. Albus himself received a generous salary for his work at Hogwarts, the Wizengamot and the ICW, but it was the kind of money that meant he could live comfortably, not the kind that made him rich in any way.

And thus the Order of the Phoenix needed rich donors, and Albus had found plenty. James Potter, Sirius Black, Frank Longbottom, Edgar Bones, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes. All of them, save for Sirius, had been killed in the war. Sirius had, of course, ended up in Azkaban for his part in the betrayal of the Potters. At the time it had hardly mattered that Albus’ funds had dried up almost overnight, since Voldemort was defeated and disappeared for a decade.

But now, Voldemort had returned. Albus didn’t have any solid proof, but he could feel it in his bones. It had started three years ago, when the Philosopher’s Stone was stolen from Hogwarts by Quirinius Quirrell. Albus had honestly never pegged him for a follower of Voldemort, especially since Quirinius had worked as the Muggle Studies teacher before taking a sabbatical and returning to teach defence. Even though people like Severus and Minerva hadn’t been very keen to believe him, Albus could see Voldemort’s hand in the theft of that precious artifact.

Then the next year poor Ginevra Weasley went missing, and again Albus had no evidence, but he strongly suspected Voldemort had a hand in this, too, though Albus couldn’t as of yet see why Voldemort would go after the Weasleys’ youngest child.

And just last year Sirius Black had escaped Azkaban and terrorized Hogwarts for months and months until the truth finally came out that Sirius wasn’t the secret-keeper and hadn’t betrayed the Potters or killed Peter or any of those muggles. And just like that, Albus had a very rich donor back under his control. Poor Sirius wasn’t in the best of mental health after spending so much time around dementors, but he was more than eager to share some of his wealth so Albus could look for poor missing Harry and prepare for Voldemort’s inevitable return.