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...

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 i...

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 ...

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 sti...

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 ...

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 ...

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 pausin...

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 p...

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 st...

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 t...

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 ...

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 watc...

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 slidi...

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. O...

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 w...

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 wit...

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....

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 Mi...

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...

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 ...

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 ...

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 s...

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,...

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 thin...

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...

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. Gr...

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 ...

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

R...