#cursedchild

MINISTRY OF MAGIC, GRAND MEETING ROOM

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Severus stands off to the side near Remus as the Minister of Magic, aka Hermione Granger, stands on stage with Harry. Elizabeth is technically on stage, though she is standing off to the side, leaning against the wall. She looks deep in concentration, not paying attention to the other witches and wizards that move around below her. 

Kingsley is there too, though Severus has no idea when he returned to London. The last he had heard, the retired Minister had settled down in Jamaica to live the rest of his days out in peace. 

Sprinkled throughout older Ministry wizards and witches are familiar faces of his past students or former colleagues. His godson Draco stands near Ginny and Ron Weasley. He notices that Minerva has shown up at some point, along with Trang. 

"Order!" Hermione calls from the stage. "Order. Do I have to conjure silence?" 

Severus smiles to himself as he watches Elizabeth roll her eyes. Both of them know you can't actually conjure silence. Rather, it's a spell to give the illusion of silence, though someone could still be speaking. 

"Good. Welcome to this extraordinary general meeting. I'm so pleased so many of you could make it. The wizarding world has been living in peace now for many years. It's twenty-two years since we defeated Voldemort at the Battle of Hogwarts, and I'm delighted to say there is a new generation being brought up having known only the slightest conflict. Until now. Harry." 

Severus frowned slightly as he watched Harry take to the mic next. Until now? 

"Voldemort's allies have been showing movement for a few months now. We've followed trolls making their way across Europe, giants starting to cross the seas, and the werewolves- well, I'm distressed to say we lost sight of them some weeks ago. We don't know where they're going or who's encouraged them to move- but we are aware they are moving- and we are concerned what it might mean. So we're asking- if anyone has seen anything? Felt anything? If you could raise a wand, we will hear everyone speak. Professor McGonagall- thank you." 

"It did look like the potions stores had been interfered with when we returned from summer break, but not a huge amount of ingredients were missing, some Boomslang skin and Lacewing flies nothing on the Restricted Register. We put it down to Peeves." 

Severus immediately felt alarm. Those were ingredients for Polyjuice Potion! Sure, other potions, but for them to be stolen or missing? It had to be Polyjuice potion. His eyes met Elizabeths', who were reflecting his realization back to him. 

"Thank you, Professor. We shall investigate. Nobody else?" Minister Granger asked as she looked around. Severus  noticed that Trang looked like she wanted to say something, and then held back, shooting a covert look at Shacklebolt instead. "Fine, and- gravest of all- and this hasn't been the case since Voldemort- Harry's scar is hurting again." 

Severus almost laughed out loud, except that he knew the details between Potters' scar and the vanquished Dark Lord. 

"Voldemort is dead. Voldemort is gone." Draco said fiercely. 

"Yes, Draco, Voldemort is dead, but these things all lead us to think that there is a possibility that Voldemort- or some trace of Voldemort- might be back." 

Severus couldn't help but exchange a look with Lupin, who looked as convinced as Severus felt. It was impossible. The horcruxes had all been destroyed and Voldemorts body had been viewed by everyone at the Battle of Hogwarts. There was no spell, no potion, nothing that could bring him back to life. 

Except time. . . 

"Now this is difficult but we have to ask it to rule it out. Those of you with a Dark Mark. . . have you felt anything? Even a twinge?" Potter asked. 

"Back to being prejudiced against those with a Dark Mark, are we, Potter?" Draco challenged him. 

Severus sighed aloud. 

"No, Draco. Harry is simply trying to-" 

"You know what this is about? Harry just wants his face back in the newspapers again. We've had rumors of Voldemort coming back from the Daily Prophet once a year every year-" 

"None of those rumors came from me!" Harry snapped. 

"Really? Doesn't your wife edit the Daily Prophet?" Draco retorted. 

"The sports page!" The red headed Weasley girl spoke up. 

"This isn't good." Remus muttered next to him. 

"Draco. Harry brought this matter to the attention of the Ministry." Minister Granger tried again. "And I- as Minister for Magic-" 

"A vote you only won because you are his friend." Draco smirked. 

"Do you want a smack in the mouth?" Weasley snarled. 

"Face it-" Draco said, unperturbed. "his celebrity impacts upon you all. And how better to get everyone whispering the Potter name again than with 'my scar is hurting, my scar is hurting'. And do you know what this all means- that the gossipmongers once again have an opportunity to defame my son with these ridiculous rumors about his parentage." 

"Draco, no one is saying this has anything to do with Scorpius-" 

"What about you Kane?" Draco snapped. "What do you have to say about Voldemort coming back?" 

Elizabeth glanced over at him as though only just realizing that he was there and speaking. She looked around the entire meeting room and said slowly. "I have not seen Voldemort himself. There is a danger, but I can't see it yet. My visions have come much slower in the past years than they did while we were at school." 

Draco shook his head and walked out of the courtroom. Surprisingly, Elizabeth followed him out, looking a little dazed and confused, her eyes slightly glossy. Severus watched her go and then raised his wand. 

"Yes Severus?" Minister Granger asked tiredly. 

"For Potters' previous question about the Dark Mark, I haven't felt anything from it since the Battle of Hogwarts." Severus sighed. 

"Thank you." Granger said, making a note on her papers. 

By this point, a large majority had followed Draco out after Elizabeths' announcement. 

"Would've been nice if Elizabeth had just told us Voldemort wasn't a problem before we held the meeting." Weasley grumbled to his wife. 

"Knock it off Ron." Ginny sighed. 

"Severus, can I talk to you?" Remus asked quietly, the two older men leaving the courtroom. "Is Elizabeth okay?" 

"Honestly?" Severus asked quietly, leaning against the tiled wall of the Ministry hallway. "I don't know. We've had it rough since our last kids went off to Hogwarts. . . well you knew that anyways. We've been making up, this summer has been good, but something still feels off. Whatever is happening has her worried, but she. . . she hides it well." 

"You can't grill her over it?" Remus asked skeptically. "You, Dumbledore, Minerva, you all did that when she was in school." 

"I wasn't worried about our marriage succeeding or failing back then either." Severus sighed. "Honestly, I'm afraid that if I push the wrong buttons it's over. And quite frankly Remus, I can't lose her. I can't. But I'm starting to wonder if she's outgrowing me." 

Both of them were quiet and Severus caught sight of Trang and Kingsley talking to each other, both of them looking worried. Trang was showing him something on a piece of paper and he was tempted to go into one of their minds and find out what the drama was. All with the intentions of keeping Elizabeth's best friend safe of course. But he refrained. 

"That's not the Elizabeth I know." Remus finally said. "She loves you. She always has. Otherwise she wouldn't have put up with you for as long as she has. Maybe it's that depression some mothers get when they no longer have kids in the house. Like she doesn't know what to do with herself now." 

Severus smiled a little. "She's actually pregnant." 

Remus smiled a little too. "So you gave in?" 

"Not like it was planned, but well I won't go into the details but she's happy so I'm happy." 

Remus nodded and the two of them fell silent as Tonks walked over. "Fine." She said, rolling her eyes. "Keep your secrets. But Remus, we're going to be late." 

"Of course." Severus rolled his eyes at Remus sappy love voice, although he knew that's probably exactly how he sounded when he talked to Elizabeth. "See you later Severus." 

"Sure." Severus said, glancing back down to where Trang and Kingsley had been but they were both gone now. He quickly left the Ministry, going to find Elizabeth. 

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