Ali Buz

Rise of Black / Chapter 92

Lucius stood beside his desk. The diary sat on the same wood where his father, Abraxas Malfoy, had worked. The leather drank the light and kept its own counsel.

Corvus did not hurry. He leaned back, one ankle on a knee, and watched the blond lord study the diary. A faint smile tugged at his mouth, more a private joke th...

Rise of Black / Chapter 91

Lucius led Corvus into the study and shut the door. No tour. No drink. He took the chair by the hearth and kept his hands still.

Corvus sat without waiting. Eyes on Lucius.

"About my request," Lucius began. "To remove the mark I took in a season my present self finds unwise. What will it take?"

"Tell me, Luc...

Rise of Black / Chapter 90

Arabella Figg stood last at the rail. Tears streaked the lines on her face. The chamber held no softness. Arcturus rose from the Minister's seat, voice cold.

"We will not tolerate any who abets harm to a magical child. Blood and station are irrelevant." He signed the warrant after the votes were counted. "Sentence: deat...

Rise of Black / Chapter 89

The doors opened on iron hinges. Three Muggles shuffled through under Auror wands, wrists bound in charmed chains that tightened when they pulled. Vernon's neck flushed the colour of boiled ham as his small eyes swept the tiers. Robes and wood sticks. The man on the dais looked down with still grey eyes that did not blink. Ve...

Rise of Black / Chapter 88

Arcturus watched the Lords and Ladies take their seats after the recess.

"Chief Warlock Longbottom, Director Bones." His voice filled the bowl of the hall, even and cold. "Effective at once, every office, license, seal, and operation of the International Confederation of Wizards is suspended within the borders of Wizard...

Rise of Black / Chapter 87

The chamber held its breath when the doors opened. Noon light spilled through the high windows, cutting bars across the stone floor. Dumbledore walked between two Aurors, slower than pride would prefer, robes pressed and wandless hands bound. The Skelegrow had done its work; the jaw no longer throbbed with every heartbeat. He...

Rise of Black / Chapter 86

Owl posts fell like winter ash across the wizarding world. Headlines bled ink. Seals broke. Quills scratched. In London the Prophet sold out by midmorning. In Paris, La Gazette pinned three moving frames on its front page, each one pausing a heartbeat too long on the moment a blue white bolt flung Albus Dumbledore in...

Rise of Black / Chapter 85

Snow pressed at the mullioned panes and dulled the castle hum to a low breath. The faculty gathered in the long staff room, cloaks steaming, tea ghosting in the cold light. Seats scraped. The chair at the head of the table sat empty.

Snape prowled a slow line behind his chair, hands folded into his sleeves. A muscle wor...

Rise of Black / Chapter 84

Robes settled. Wands sheated. The orbs above the chamber steadied to a cold white. Frank Longbottom lifted a hand and the murmur died. The clerk touched his quill to the parchment strip and the tip began to move on its own.

Gawain Robards stepped to the rail with a folder under one arm. He did not look for comfort in th...

Rise of Black / Chapter 83

Amelia watched the chamber breathe out and settle. Benches creaked, rings found rails again, and quills steadied. Corvus Black slid into his place with the small black box in one hand and his wand across one knee. The chick inside peeped once, a thin ember under ash. Her own Aurors stood ringed along the walls, faces tight, e...

Rise of Black / Chapter 82

The chamber did not breathe so much as bristle. Robes dragged. Wands hissed back into sleeves. The Progressive benches burst first, voices up like kennel dogs. Neutrals leaned in with narrowed eyes. Traditionalists watched from stillness, the way wolves wait at the edge of a field.

Arcturus rested one hand on the arm of...

Rise of Black / Chapter 81

The chamber filled by degrees. Robes brushed stone. Rings ticked once against rails and fell still. The clerk squared his parchments and lifted his quill. On the high bench Frank Longbottom took the Warlock's seat for this case, jaw set, eyes watchful. Albus Dumbledore kept to the benches with the Progressives, hands folded w...

Rise of Black / Chapter 80

Corvus' routine settled as as usual whenever he was in Hogwarts. He copied the Extreme Agility when his replication was ready. He tested the new edge after the absorbtion was complete. Extreme Agility settled into muscle and nerve like a key sliding home. Paired with Extreme Speed, it stopped the blur from becoming a stumble....

Rise of Black / Chapter 79

Arcturus let the outer office empty itself in slow, polite waves. Clerks withdrew. Aurors posted at the far end of the corridor. The door sealed with a soft click and a line of silver light settled in the jambs. The fire burned low in the grate. On the inner wall, the portrait screens were shuttered.

Ignatia Travers sto...

Rise of Black / Chapter 78

Corvus kept to the shadowed spine of the corridor, breath quiet, steps lighter than dust. The high security ward hummed with the thin, hopeless chill that sinks under nails and into marrow. Iron doors slept behind layered wards. Beyond them, the worst remnants of a bygone war rotted at the state's leisure.

A gaunt figur...

Rise of Black / Chapter 77

Corvus woke to an open Friday and a clean ledger. No classes. No visitors. A perfect day to begin billing a toad who had reached above her station. Not only for what she had done in this life. Also for what she was in another.

He dressed with care. Dark grey robes. Silver and green thread along the cuffs. A small indulg...

Rise of Black / Chapter 76

Potter opened his eyes and drew a slow breath. The parking lot of the zoo sat where Corvus had told him to build it, asphalt bright and empty inside his head. Lanes marked out. Lamps standing guard. A place to notice footsteps that did not belong.

Corvus watched the boy's focus settle. A small nod. He brushed at Potter'...

Rise of Black / Chapter 75

Tornhook pinched the bridge of his nose and stared at the brass hands of the Ministry clock as if he could bend time with spite alone. The goblin had visited every morning for a week. Every morning the same clerk with the same pleasant lie. The Minister is in session. The Minister is reviewing papers. The Minister is unavaila...

Rise of Black / Chapter 74

Grigori Volkov sat in the old leather chair that had belonged to his father and his father before him. The study breathed winter even with the hearth lit. Snow pressed its face to the casement and slid down in slow sheets. Seven kinsmen stood in a half circle before the desk, boots damp, shoulders squared, eyes set. Volkovs d...

Rise of Black / Chapter 73

Rodolphus wanted to die. By the Kiss of a Dementor, by the Veil, by a careless shove from the highest parapet. Anything to stop this. His mind had splintered seven times already. Each time the monster fed him a potion that braught him back to see the faintly smiling face. Always at the brink of madness, just enough for more. ...

Rise of Black / Chapter 72

Rufus Scrimgeour had visited Azkaban more in the last few weeks than in the previous five years. Salt clung to his beard. The oars dipped and lifted through the chop, regular as a metronome, and he wondered when his career had turned into a ferry schedule. The reason for this visit was no different from the others. Another ma...

Rise of Black / Chapter 71

Arcturus Black arrived at the ministry on an ordinary morning and expected it to stay that way. The early corridors of the Ministry were quiet, which suited work that required a steady hand. Today's list began with choosing a secretary; he would shortlist three and send them to Corvus for the final pass. That habit had crept ...

Rise of Black Chapter 70

Corvus traced a finger along the rim of his teacup. "In our world a godparent is not a ribbon on a cradle. It is a charge under vow. A godfather or a godmother swears to keep a magical child within magic, to defend the child's person and property, to sponsor first oaths, to see the child trained, and to stand as first petitio...

Rise of Black / Chapter 69

Potter fetched the nameless parcel from his dorm and walked to the quiet corridor that held Heir Black's rooms. He knocked once and waited. A house elf in a neat butler's uniform opened the door and gestured for him to follow.

The first thing he saw inside was a glass terrarium set opposite the entry. A green snake lay ...

Rise of Black / Chapter 68

Grimmauld Place had grown crowded in a way that felt almost normal and almost dangerous. Aunt Vinda's touch went through rooms like a winter bell, Uncle Grigori filled the corridors with the weight of a retired storm, Sirius drifted between healer visits and loud opinions and Elizaveta moved like a silver knife in velvet. Cor...

Rise of Black / Chapter 67

The schism at Hogwarts did not end with Samhain. It settled into habit. At meals the house tables showed fault lines that did not match the banners. Blocks of students drifted to sit beside friends from other houses. Ravenclaws gained the most. Gryffindor lost more than pride.

Potter chose his ground. He sat mostly with...

Rise of Black / Chapter 66

Elizaveta Volkov stepped through the doorway with the quiet confidence of someone taught exactly how to enter a room. Pale hair was braided for winter, the plait lying neatly between her shoulder blades. Her beautiful eyes, larger than usual were a clear glacial blue, sharp and observant. High cheekbones, a straight small nos...

Rise of Black / Chapter 65

Daily Prophet, Morning Edition
By Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent

BLACK SUN RISES OVER WIZENGAMOT
Arcturus Black takes the chair and clears an innocent

Readers, adjust your spectacles and your expectations. The Wizengamot did not mea...