Protection: The Sword and the Shield

Is It Raining

...Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

It was the last night of term. The death of Lord Rosier had been a complete shock but other than the oddity of such a relatively young and healthy man dying of a heart attack, a disease that rarely affected wizards, no foul play was suspected. At least no foul play was officially suspected.

Theo Nott knew Harry Potter had somehow killed the man. He had no idea how he had done it as no magic or poison of any kind was found, but he knew Harry Potter had killed the man for attacking Professor Hagrid's family and then trying to hurt Cecelia, who Astoria considered "one of mine". The heir Nott also believed that Rosier's death was a warning to him about what he was capable of and not to think that he was a light sider in the same style of Albus Dumbledore.

Astoria Greengrass knew Harry Potter had somehow killed the man. She knew from the moment she handed her big brother the letter that no solution would be considered too extreme to make sure that she did not lose Cecelia. Her brother would do anything to keep her happy even if he had to burn the entire country to the ground. Cecelia did not know, nor would Astoria say anything. Instead the sweet girl was currently cuddled with her and the Creevey brothers for comfort. She was not upset at her grandfather's death, she was bothered that she felt no sorrow or regret at all.

...Office of the Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Albus Dumbledore knew a lot about political assassinations. He had seen them, he had prevented them and while he would never dirty his own hands, he had all but ordered them. So for him, he did not need to know how the death of Abraham Rosier was carried out, he only needed to look at the fallout from that death to know who and why the man had been killed. As was usual in situations like this, he blamed Sirius Black.

For someone who had publically dedicated their life to the idea that those of the dark could be led to the light, Albus Dumbledore had little faith in the people who had made that change, unless they were willing to indenture themselves to his will, as he believed Severus Snape had. From the moment Sirius Black had been sorted into Gryffindor, he should have been held up by the "Light Lord" as an example. Instead the boy, and now man, became the suspected source of anything dark that happened around him.

"I don't know what we can do, Professor." Came the contrite voice from the fire. And Albus nodded in understanding. In this instance he was truly understanding and did not need to mask any anger. Sirius Black was a formidable foe and it made no sense to be angry. "I understand, my dear boy. Sirius Black has been raised to be good at this type of thing and I am not surprised that he would have covered his tracks well. Keep vigilant, I suspect that this was not about the giant situation and that is just meant to be a convenient excuse. I fear the Rosier family may be compromised for some grander dark purpose." The person in the fire nodded somberly before the connection was broken.

The headmaster went back to seat and gave out a tired sigh. The board was a mess and instead of having only two sides, the war between the dark and the light had fractured into many sides. Manu of the old man's decisions may have seemed callous to the unwise but were made to avoid the exact situation they found themselves in. When the board was like this, the dark had the advantage because they thrived in chaos. The light needed order.

With the school closed for the break, he finally had time to plan. He needed a new way to rein in Harry Potter and he began to believe it would require the illumination of Sirius Black. He needed to do the same for Neville Longbottom and that might require even more deaths. And while all of that was happening the shadow of Voldemort still loomed above. He doubted he would ever be able to achieve the level of power and respect he had during the first war and they had almost lost that. He stared out of his office window as his brilliant mind tried to solve the problems that he felt only he knew about.