87 Gray Garden

Dumbledore had been pacing restlessly in his office since the recent incident happened. Barely a day had passed since the students returned home and as he was studying an ancient manuscript to try to find something important, he felt a disturbance in the force... ahem! In the magic of Britain.

He never felt anything like it before and the panicked Ministry even called him in as a consultant, but by the time the magical uproar was over and they could safely Apparate to the area, they only found a large collapsed mountain, impossible to restore due to residual magical destructive force and traces of extremely ancient magic, no less than seven to eight hundred years old by his estimates, which he even considered conservative at best.

He was secretly reassured to learn that it was not Tom's doing, it seems he still had time.

His theory was that some magical ruins must have been worn down by time and collapsed, causing this reaction due to lack of maintenance.

Later, barely an hour later and when they had not yet finished examining the area completely, two additional minor spikes occurred with a similar magical signature that ended up destroying the ancestral home of two wizarding families and killing all its inhabitants inside.

Elders, men, women and children alike.

Not even an owl was spared!

They were very unlucky because apparently the whole family was present at the time, having dinner or at an important meeting, presumably. Only two people were known as remaining survivors and according to the records, they were disowned years ago by the family, so the Ministry took over the properties, the inheritance and the land following magical law.

After what happened, all magical families rushed to check if under the foundations of their home there were any potentially unstable and explosive magical ruins. Some families were lucky and even found some lost relics, but there were no more lives of wizards or witches lost.

-I never thought I'd see the garden like this someday," Ann said with tears peeking out of the corners of her eyes and her hand covering her mouth.

Perhaps it was because of the unique connection Soisen shared with her home garden, but no matter where the women looked at the moment, there was no trace of color. All the plants, even the lawn, turned gray and dull.

It was as if the dementors had been on a bender for weeks at the site in the coldest part of winter.

The only colors there were coming from the giant Occamy coiled in the center, where Soisen was currently sheltered since returning home. Nagini gave no explanations for what had happened, nor would she let them come near her at this time, no matter what they said or shouted.

It just so happened that Pomona finished compiling her research on the plants and visited the house and was stunned to see the garden. She tried to understand what happened between the mothers' explanation and her botanical expertise without much success.

-The trees and plants are still alive, but it's as if they are not alive at all," Pomona was puzzled, "I can only assume that the garden is reflecting Soisen's mood, but I have no idea how to help under the circumstances.

For a moment she considered that perhaps Hagrid could come and comfort Soisen, expressing empathy for her experience. But on second thought, all that would accomplish would be to have a depressed half-giant after hearing the news and a more gloomy atmosphere.

In addition, he learned this morning that this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mr. Lupin, was found dead in an isolated street while clutching his chest tightly, apparently dead from a sudden heart attack.

It was not until a month later that Soisen emerged from his depressed state.

During this period of time, Ann and Ingta wrote to their son's friends to explain the bad news of the "passing" of the family pet and how their study group meeting would be postponed until further notice.

Naturally, the next morning they received several letters in reply containing consolation, condolences and understanding.

As Soisen went back to sleep in her bed, Nagini explained her reason for acting as she did at that delicate moment.

It was unclear to her how, but Soisen somehow in her altered state managed to Apparate with precision into the homes of the families and exterminated them using raw magic. After the reprisals were over, he did not become exhausted or faint, so Nagini had to contain him using her bond as a Totem Guardian.

It was far from simple, because unconsciously Soisen partially released his superior animagus form and Nagini was facing a magical life level suppression. In other words, the reason she kept Soisen's mothers out while he was in the garden was to protect them from her own son, who seemed to have lost his sense of self.

Later, when Soisen came out of that state and regained consciousness, he felt remorse for his actions. For although there were undoubtedly several people involved in Rada's death, he made the whole family pay for the actions of a few.

The only part that managed to comfort him a little, was that there were no minors in the families as he initially believed. He would never have forgiven himself for killing young children for such an outburst as he had.

He spent the entire month exercising his Occlumency to new levels to gain greater control over his emotions so that there would be no repeat of what happened.

As Kyrako wisely said: Power can be a good thing, but power without control is not a desirable thing.

Later, when the first official meeting of the Order of the Hippogriff occurred, he was almost back to normal. Although it was with good intentions, the constant reminder by his friends lamenting his loss was like rubbing salt in the wound after pouring lemon in his eyes.

So every time they opened their mouths to say something like that, a brownie would shoot out from somewhere to silence them and it didn't take long for them to take the hint.

The beginning was not very promising, as none of them had any experience of being in such a group and the situation was somewhat chaotic. It wasn't until Soisen started acting as a teacher with the timely assistance of Cedric, that everyone managed to more or less focus and began to make significant progress in their respective years.

The one exception was Neville, who despite absorbing theory well, ended up being a dizzy duck when it came to spell casting. This was no longer about lack of knowledge or talent, because he knew the steps well.

What he needed was to gain some self-confidence not to make those mistakes.

I could give him a potion for that, but Neville might become dependent and it wouldn't really help him progress. Not to mention, his grandmother would haunt him to the ends of the earth for getting her grandson addicted to courage potions.

He remembered the case of Neville's parents, but shook his head that he couldn't help them no matter how much potion he researched. What they suffered was memory and soul damage, something he dared not trifle with.

And of course, he didn't forget to start looking for substitutes for the potion to cure their mothers' squib status. It just so happened that Pomona returned later, delivering the results of her research and was able to suggest seven viable modern replacements for various ingredients.

All in all, it was a busy summer and before she knew it, she was a week away from the start of fourth year where the Triwizard Tournament was to be held.