Ascendancy - Book I of the 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔖𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰

V. 5th November 1931 - the letter

Arcturus picked up the pile of files on the desk with a deep, wistful sigh. Two years ago, he had been the one to do all this paperwork. He had complained a lot. There was no fun in writing fifty reports in a day, sorting out the unimportant and the worrying complaints, filling in the dumps, sorting again, all until the pile disappeared. Yet he found himself regretting those days. With all the responsibilities he had now, he couldn't even take a five-minute breather. The slightest mistake and he could be fired at any moment. He lived in constant fear of making a mistake. No, really, filling out dumps was nothing terrible.

Pollux, however, did not agree. When he saw the files arrive on his desk, he wanted to bury himself six feet under the ground to finally be at peace. Arcturus smiled mischievously.

"Here you go, cousin."

"That's three times as much as yesterday!"

"Everyone's going crazy these days. Here, look at the first one," he said, grabbing the top sheet. "Someone claims to have seen Grindelwald in his street."

"It's totally stupid. Grindelwald is in Austria."

"Ah, this one actually talked to him in his kitchen. Wow, and he threatened him with a knife."

Pollux found it hard to hold back a laugh.

"Would Grindelwald have forgotten his wand?"

"Well, he's getting old."

Arcturus had gone all the way to Paris to talk to him, and those half-bloods thought that the dark mage had gone to their house to talk to them. Pathetic. The world was going mad. Dumbledore was absent more and more, and the shield of England was slowly disappearing. Fear had gripped those who had something to fear. As for the purebloods, they were showing interest in the turn of events. Arcturus included.

"Before you go to work," he said abruptly, having remembered why he had come. "I have something for you."

He took out a letter from his suit. Pollux took it with curiosity and read the parchment. If his face had lit up at the name of the sender, his features decomposed as he read. His hand began to tremble. It was only a detail, but Arcturus was too attentive not to notice.

"What's wrong?"

He'd seen Cassiopeia's name on the letter, so he knew his cousin's reaction could be overdone depending on the subject, but his sudden pallor worried him.

"Nothing."

He closed the letter as if it contained a state secret.

"What do you mean 'nothing'?"

He wanted to take the parchment from his hands, but Pollux was quicker. He got up from his seat and walked towards the fireplace. Regulus chose this moment to enter. This interruption stopped the two young men. Arcturus silently thanked his brother for coming in at the right time. This was a change from the usual.

Taking advantage of his cousin's pause, Arcturus took the letter from his hands and unfolded it with haste. He barely had time to look at Cassiopeia's fine handwriting before he felt the tip of a wand being thrust into his neck.

"Pollux," thundered Regulus, "Stop it."

"Give it back to me at once," he ordered in a feverish yet authoritative voice.

But curiosity drove Arcturus to start reading. Under tension, he read only the middle, but that was enough for him to understand the meaning of the letter. His throat tightened. Indeed, it was. It was worrying.

"Pollux, I won't say it again, put the wand down."

"I'll put it down if your brother puts down the bloody letter!"