A Dark Wizard Approaches

[Albus Dumbledore]

TAG, MARIA SANCHEZ
CLOSED

It had been several weeks after the beginning of the first semester and Dumbledore was already beginning to worry. Something strange was happening with the students at Hogwarts. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly was happening and what the cause of it was but he had some idea of who may be behind it. The worse thing about all of it was that if he was right, that meant Hogwarts was no longer safe. He had to tell someone about this, and couldn’t just let it slide. The only person he could think of was talking to the Mistress herself, though he was a bit unsure if he should. After all, he didn’t want her thinking he was incapable of handling the situation as Hogwarts’ headmaster, but he didn’t want the wizarding world as a whole to continue their every day lives without the knowledge he possessed. If he was right, things were about to happen that could change the course of the magical community forever.

Albus sat comfortably in his study inside the castle, deep in his thoughts. He really should let the Mistress know about the threat that was upon them. Not just with the students at Hogwarts but he needed to tell her who was behind it. There could only be one explanation: that a certain dark wizard was developing an army and attacking where he could. He obviously didn’t have his full strength, as attacking students at Hogwarts in the way he was attacking wasn’t something Dumbledore had expected. Then again, this dark wizard had always been afraid of confronting him. He was perhaps the only wizard Tom Riddle was afraid of facing. Maybe that’s why he chose such a secretive way of attacking Hogwarts. Using a journal to control the students was something unexpected, and that’s how he worked.

It was only a few more minutes after that when Dumbledore stood from his desk and prepared himself to travel to the Ministry of Magic. He had told Minerva that he might be away from Hogwarts for the afternoon, so she expected his absence. He knew that time was important, and the quicker he alerted the Mistress of what was happening, the quicker she act. Hopefully she would listen to what he had to say; most people did not want to readily accept that something bad was about to happen if nothing was done. He could not, in his good conscience, neglect to tell her. He had to take that risk of being misunderstood, of her completely ignoring him. He was willing to take that risk. Surely with his standing in the magical community she would at least listen to what he said.

Dumbledore took three steps, pivoted, and apparated to the Ministry and appeared inside of the building. He was one of the ones that were allowed to apparate inside, and so he took advantage of that permission. He wasn’t really one to travel on a broom, which was too risky for him. He made his way up to the floor that the Mistress’ office was located. Fortunately, he wouldn’t need an appointment as the Mistress had already given him permission to arrive at any time if he needed to speak with her. He walked straight past the receptionist and knocked lightly on the Mistress’ door. All he had to do now was to wait for the Mistress to allow him entrance.

[Maria Sanchez]

maria.

coming out of the dark
i see the light now

The Ministry of Magic had been bustling since early that morning. The workers were running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get their work done. The most active of the workers, however, was probably the group of aurors going from one level to another, interacting with other departments to figure out what was going on with the world around them. Next to the Mistress of Magic and her support team, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was probably the busiest department of them all. They had to keep track of cases dealing with illegal doings and deaths not caused by natural events in people's lives, which was actually what all of the hustle and bustle was about that morning and into the afternoon hours.

There had been many reported deaths since that morning, and none of them had really happened by natural occurrence. The aurors had been trying to figure out who or what was behind the deaths, but they had absolutely no leads aside from the fact that there was an obvious "dark side" starting to show in the magical community. It was frustrating, everyone knew, trying to figure all of that out, which was why most of the other departments did not try to send any of their inquiries to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They had enough stuff on their plate as it was.

The Mistress of Magic and her support staff had been on level two all morning with the aurors. All of them had heard of some darkness arising among the magical people, and it was quickly spreading into the Muggle world, which was what the major problem was. With things not being contained and being spread into the Muggle world, it had the magical world at risk of being discovered by Muggle people, which was exactly what they didn't want. So they needed to figure out what was going on--and pronto.

Several arduous hours of work hadn't really paid off. It only left the first and second floor departments in a complete bind. They hadn't finished filing paperwork. They hadn't figured out what was going on. They had figured out who or what was behind all of the death and destruction. They hadn't figured out much of anything. There had been a rumor going around about a "Dark Lord" rising into power, but the Mistress had thought of the idea as frivolous. But she didn't push the idea aside, nor did she stop thinking about it. After that day's events, she was starting to take it into consideration and actually announce her thought and feelings to the second-level department. But she still didn't have enough to go off. All she had heard were the rumors, and she couldn't always trust those.

Much still had to be done, but the Mistress had somehow gotten a headache working all morning with the aurors. Though some of the most intelligent and brave people she knew, the aurors were also some of the loudest and most confusing--but she loved them anyway. She had cut out of all the talk and discussion around one that afternoon and had gone to get herself something to eat and to take some medication for that headache of hers, which had only gotten worse upon her departure.

Before heading to her office, she had stopped by the staff lounge, which, thankfully, was empty. She grabbed herself a little something to eat: a sandwich, an apple, and a cup of coffee. She had taken a bite of the sandwich before she had even left the room. She continued to eat and take occasional sips of her coffee as she walked down the corridor towards her office. She didn't bother taking the lift, because she hated the feeling of traveling in it, so she took the stairs. It didn't take her that much longer to get from floor one or floor two using the steps, and she had received a bit of exercise.

Upon reaching her office, the short, curly-haired woman realized that she had a visitor waiting for her just outside her door. She looked to see who it was an saw that it was Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts and her former Transfiguration teacher. She blinked a few times and approached him from behind while at the same time chewing and finally managing to swallow the bite of sandwich she had had in her mouth.

"Professor," she said casually, stepping past him and bumping her door with her hip. It hadn't been all the way closed, so it opened with much easy at the slight push that had been put against it. "Please, come in." She looked at him and nodded her head as she stood in the doorway, out of his way, but standing near the door so she could close it once he had entered the room.

She assumed that he was either there to talk about her daughter, Emily, or else he was there to talk about something more important than that. Either way, though, both were important things to talk about, obviously, and she wasn’t about to ask him to leave because she was eating her lunch.

"You'll have to excuse the mess," she told him, looking back at her desk. Maria Sanchez said that her office was messy, but it really wasn't. She had a few papers lying atop her desk, but most of the other ones were in neat stacks sitting on the corner of her desk. The rest of the office was perfectly and spotlessly clean, all of which the Mistress of Magic had done herself without the use of magic. "I've been up on level two since early this morning and haven't had time to straighten up."

[/blockquote]

[Albus Dumbledore]

Albus was about to knock on the Mistress’ door again when he heard someone approaching from the down the hall. He waited for a few minutes and then the Mistress herself appeared from around the corner, carrying a cup of coffee and had an armful of papers. He simply smiled politely as she approached him and said, “Hello, Mistress. It’s nice to see you again.”

When she opened the office he followed her in and looked around the room. It was a bit messy, but he wasn’t going to say anything. There were times his office was just as messy, or worse. When she apologized he shook his head and said, “No need to apologize. I know you can get very busy. I hope you have a few minutes to spare? There’s something I need to tell you that’s of utmost importance.”

Even if she didn’t have a few minutes, Dumbledore was determined to say what needed to be said. So without waiting for an answer he waited for her to get situated and looked at her with a sincere yet thoughtful expression. “There’s something happening at Hogwarts this year that’s worrying me.” He paused and looked at her and waited until he was sure he had her attention. He didn’t want her distracted while he was trying to tell her what was happening.

Albus sighed a bit heavily and looked around the room for a moment, his thought process broken temporarily. What would happen to the school if things didn’t start getting better? If the Mistress was unwilling to hear what he had to say and accept it then he didn’t know where he was going to go for help. He knew he could handle what was happening, or so he assumed. If she didn’t do anything or offer protection from the Ministry itself he would have to send the students home to their parents.

Not only would that cause an uproar with the students and parents, but also he was sure his decision would be questioned. He’d have to explain why he had to send the students home and he knew that everyone would not accept his explanation. A few seconds later he blinked and turned his attention back to the Mistress. He then continued with what he had to say.

“Some of the students…are being controlled by an outside force…that I have yet to locate. I have a feeling who is behind all of this.” Albus was now pacing in front of her desk and finally decided to give her the rest of the information. “I don't know if you remember him, but he went to school with you. His name is Tom Riddle...but I've heard he likes to call himself Lord Voldemort now."

Dumbledore said the last part in a whisper. He wasn’t afraid of Tom Riddle or what he had become; but he was worried about his students at Hogwarts. If Voldemort had managed to get his hands into the school it was no longer safe. He couldn’t think of anyone else that could be behind it. Now all he had to do was wait for a reaction from the Mistress of Magic. Would she know of whom he spoke?

[Maria Sanchez]

maria.

A moment to spare. Just a moment. That was all he needed. Ha! Maria knew better than to set aside just a moment for anyone who stepped into her office. A moment was only a few seconds to her. There was no such thing as a moment in her life, especially not when it came to her work. Aside from that, Albus Dumbledore was of a high status in the wizarding community, and the urgency in his voice said that more than just a moment would be needed to talk about whatever it was he wanted to bring to her attention.

"Sure," she said with a faint sigh about her voice as she placed her papers and food atop her desk. She made sure the food was atop something of little to no value as to keep the crumbs from getting on her desk and creating a larger mess for her to clean. "I have nothing but time." She was trying not to be rude or show an obvious air of annoyance, but it was extremely hard. Her head was pounding and telling her to just kill herself. Her stomach was telling her to eat before it ate her. Her stress level was up fairly high from an entire morning of work on the second floor. She had paperwork to do as well as meetings over the period of the next few hours. Time was not something she actually had, and Albus Dumbledore knew this. He had simply been nice about it while jumping into the entire situation before giving her a chance to turn him down. She hated when people did that, mostly because everyone did it all the time, because they knew she was busy.

As the headmaster started talking about what was bothering him and why he had come to talk to her, the woman kicked her shoes off beneath her desk and bent her toes in relief. She then lifted the sandwich to her mouth and took a somewhat large bite out of it. She chewed with her mouth closed, though hard it was, and managed to swallow, though hard that was, too. She lifted her cup to her thin lips and sipped lightly from it. The coffee traveled down her esophagus and into her stomach and created a warmth through her entire body. She let out a sigh of content and relaxed against her seat some.

Dumbledore had said that something was worrying him. If something was worrying Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, then something was wrong. But was it really him that mattered in the end? If Maria Sanchez was worried, it should have mattered. She was the Mistress of Magic, after all. She said nothing but nodded her head as he spoke and too another bite of her sandwich. And then he gave her his theory behind it all, and she nearly choked on her food.

Letting out a strained cough, the woman managed to swallow and then sipped her coffee yet again. He had mentioned Tom Riddle and his preference of being called Lord Voldemort. She had gone to school with Tom Riddle. He had always been into the Dark Arts and always seemed to stay with himself, but he never seemed like the type that would actually try to take over the world. Maria had had many people tell her that Voldemort was behind the dark magic rising and other things, but she didn't really want to believe it. She didn't put the idea entirely out of her head, though. She kept it there, just in case it was true. She wouldn't say everyone was wrong, or try to prove a way that they were wrong. No, she'd confess that she was wrong and they were right. But at the moment, she didn't want to believe it.

"Headmaster," she said through a mouthful of food, "I've heard about him wanting to be called that? But, I mean…Tom Riddle? Are you sure? I know he was into Dark Magic, but he never seemed like the type to just…I don't know. It seems a bit strange to me." She put her hands up in the air some and shrugged. She just wasn't sure of how to take the entire situation. She knew that most of Dumbledore's theories were correct and tended to be right on the spot, but Tom Riddle as Lord Voldemort. It just seemed… strange to her. She had gone to school with Tom. She had had classes with Tom. He was a very bright student, always ahead in class. But to think that he was some sort of dark wizard just seemed like a foreign thought to Maria Sanchez. She wasn't quite sure she believed it, at least not yet.

[/blockquote]

[Albus Dumbledore]

Dumbledore sighed and looked at her. Of course she wasn’t going to believe him straight off. He needed to convince her, and at the moment he didn’t really have any strong evidence to actually prove that Riddle was behind the strange things happening to the students at Hogwarts.

“Think about it this way – Tom Riddle has always hated Muggles. He hates anything that isn’t of a pure decent. He himself is a half-blood yet he was sorted into Slytherin. Some think that Slytherin house only accepts purebloods, and this is mostly the case. However you can chose your fate. Tom Riddle wanted to be in Slytherin. He knew he could become powerful, and he wanted that power. That’s what he’s after now. He wants to rid the magical world of everyone that isn’t pure, and also those that have accepted those of Muggle decent as a part of the magical community.”

Albus paused a moment to let it sink in. Maybe this would help prove to her that Tom Riddle wasn’t as angelic as she remembered him. “And if I were a dark wizard, I would want my potential enemies to assume that I am innocent.” The headmaster looked at the Mistress and hoped that what he had just said had some convincing value to it. She seemed to be distracted, but then again, she probably had many things on her mind. He just hoped that she would listen. If not, then he would have to take care of things himself. People in the magical community didn’t want to believe that a dark wizard was on the rise, simply because they wanted to continue their happy lives and didn’t want to face what was surely imminent.

“He has become more powerful than either of us could possibly imagine. He isn’t afraid to use the unforgivable curses, and anyone that is with him will kill without hesitation. He is forming an army of wizards to fight for him, known as the Death Eaters. He doesn’t care about age.” Dumbledore swallowed and looked into the Mistress’ eyes. “I believe he is trying and hoping to get some of the students on his side. He will use any means of coercion.”

Dumbledore stopped speaking and simply looked at the Mistress. She was still eating and appeared to be quite ravenous, as if she hadn’t eaten in days. He thought that it was possibly because she hadn't eaten breakfast and so he didn't say anything. He wouldn't have said anything anyway, as he was already 'in hot water' with bringing up the topic of Lord Voldemort.

[Maria Sanchez]

maria.

coming out of the dark
i see the light now

A lot of the information that Albus Dumbledore had presented was mostly true and very accurate, even Maria Sanchez knew that. She knew that she would have to face the music someday, but she didn't want that day to be today. She had always believed that her generation of people was the best and that they had more respect for one another as well as more manners than those today. She believed that they were, for the most part, all good. But then Tom Riddle had to go and be the bad apple. The woman let out a sigh and shook her head.

She placed her sandwich back atop the paper near her coffee and her apple and let out another heavy sigh. She took a few moments to think about the information that had been presented to her as well as the fact that she didn't know Tom Riddle at all. Albus Dumbledore knew almost everyone he had taught: their past, their present, and possibly their future. He had thought that Maria would return to Hogwarts as a professor; she had considered it until she met Emilio, got married, and had her son. Then her plans flipped entirely. Life had gotten in the way, as she told everyone, but the effect had been greater because now she was Mistress of Magic, the most powerful woman in all of Great Britain. He had always said that Tom Riddle would do great things, but he never said that those great things would be dark.

"Headmaster," she said with an air of slight agitation in her voice. She shook her head some and sat back against her seat, almost in a manner of giving up entirely. "Deception is one of the many tools that we use to make our enemies think one thing and not another. I am well aware of that; you needn't remind me that it is the purpose of all people." She looked at him with an obvious amount of annoyance and fatigue in her face. She put a hand on her forehead some and blinked a few times. Her head was pounding.

The woman leaned forward and sat on the edge of her seat. She was barely even on the seat; her feet were the only thing keeping her from sliding onto the floor. She had both of her elbows resting on the desk and her head resting in her hands. She was staring down at the papers absentmindedly and with no intention of reading them. She let out a sigh and thought about everything the older man had told her and presented to her. It all made sense. It was all logical. She just didn't want to believe it, at least not yet. There wasn't exactly any evidence to say that Tom Riddle was, indeed, Lord Voldemort or that he was raising a group of people known as the Death Eaters.

She wasn't telling Dumbledore that he was lying or even really denying the fact that Tom Riddle could very well be Lord Voldemort; she was just trying to hide the fact that they had a large problem on their hands. She was trying to put off the possibilities. She didn't want the wizarding world to think she was incapable of handling things or that they were really about to have a huge magical crisis on their hands. But that was exactly what was happening, and everyone would one day have to hear about it and they'd all have to face the music.

Maria gave in.

"So… Tom Riddle is behind all of these attacks. What do you want me to do about it? I don't know who his followers are. I don't know where he is. How am I supposed to do something if I don't know anything myself?" she asked him, all rhetorical questions for the most part, except the first one, about what she needed to do.

The woman sat back on her seat some and opened one of her drawers. She reached for a small bottle inside of it and dumped four small pills into her hand. She then grabbed the bottle of water setting on the edge of her desk and opened it. She took the medication and a large swig of water before finally swallowing it all down. Hopefully that would help with her headache. With a sigh, she tossed the pills back into her drawer and closed it with a loud bang and returned the water to the edge of the table. She lifted her sandwich to her mouth again and finished the last few bites off a bit quickly, wiping her hands on her lap, which was probably not the most ladylike or professional thing to do. But quite frankly, she didn't care at the moment.

[/blockquote]

[Albus Dumbledore]

Dumbledore looked at her and immediately began to speak. It was as if he had already planned out what was to be done about the whole thing and wasn’t afraid to tell her. At least she had finally agreed that Tom Riddle was behind all of the attacks. “Send your aurors out and start looking for his army. They have to be hiding somewhere, they’re among us, gathering information and giving it to him. The sooner they are found the better. Meanwhile, I think I can manage Hogwarts. As long as I’m there Voldemort won’t try anything drastic. I just have to figure out how he is managing to control the students.”

For a few seconds the Headmaster hesitated and then decided to bring up another pressing subject he was sure the Mistress would want to know about. Her daughter, Emily, a third year Hufflepuff student was beginning to worry him with her behavior issues. She had already received a few detentions from some of her professors and had even lost Hufflepuff some of their house points. It was nothing serious, really, but Dumbledore knew that Emily wasn’t normally a problematic student. “There is one other matter that I wish to bring up…your daughter Emily…her behavior has been concerning me.”

Albus looked into her eyes and continued, “Not that there aren’t a few other students on my list of concern, but Emily doesn’t usually cause problems. She’s been hanging out with some students from Slytherin house that I think are the main cause of the issue. I think she just wants to fit in and is willing to do whatever she needs to do, despite the costs. Either that or something is going on at home that she’s worried about?” Dumbledore tilted his head curiously and wondered how things were going with the Mistress and her husband. It wasn’t any of his business of course and since Emily was at Hogwarts it was highly unlikely that the happenings in her home were having a negative effect.

“I just thought I would bring the matter to your attention. She hasn’t done anything serious, other than upset a few of her professors and break some minor school rules. She was found wandering the corridors late at night with some of her friends and the result was a detention and a deduction of house points.” Dumbledore shrugged slightly and sighed heavily. He hadn’t even intended to bring the subject up about Emily but he knew the Mistress was the type of parent that would want to know such things. He just hoped he didn’t make things worse by telling her. Sometimes he wished he could take a vacation from all of his troubles; his only real vice was placing his memories in his pensieve.

Dumbledore took a moment to admire the decorations in her office. There were pictures of her family, and other knick-knacks placed randomly around the room, yet it all seemed to go cohesively together as well as a painting looked after it was finished. The bookshelves were neatly organized and filled to the brim with Ministry files and other educational and reference books. Overall, the office was very professional and even the clutter seemed to add to the look as though it was a part of the room.

[Maria Sanchez]

maria.

coming out of the dark
i see the light now

"What aurors? What aurors do you want me to send? I don't have that many to man the Ministry of Magic, much less send them to watch over the school for you,"

[/b] she explained, her voice raising several intervals as she spoke. He had audacity, she thought, to ask her to send her aurors to the magical institution. He hadn't even asked, really, but rather, told her to send them, like he was the King of England. That was another thing she didn't really like about the way his suggestion had come across: he had just told her to send them, rather than asking her politely if she would be willing to do that. She glared at him from across her desk. There was no way in hell he'd be getting what few aurors she had to stand around babysitting while Dumbledore went around doing Merlin knows what….

The woman snatched a paper or two off her desk and held it somewhat close to her face. She skimmed over it to see what it was about, squinting at the small print on the page. She didn't have her glasses on, so reading the paper was a bit of a task for her. She was trying not to let her mood rub off on the Headmaster, because it was not him that had caused her to be in such a foul mood. He was just there at the moment, and she hadn't been able to find solace since the previous night, which really hadn't been solace since she and Emilio had had a slight argument before they went to bed, which led Maria Sanchez to sleep in Emily's room because she was too upset to sleep inside her own bedroom, in her own bed, with her husband.

When the older man mentioned her daughter and started to talk about the things that concerned him, she blinked and sighed heavily. She wore an obvious look of distress and worry, and her eyes seemed to carry a slight helplessness that couldn't be gotten rid of. She wanted to cry so badly, but she refused to cry. She wasn't going to cry in front of the headmaster, nor was she going to cry because her daughter was not acting properly. Okay, so she might cry for that reason, but it would be after the headmaster was gone.

At the mention of Slytherins, the woman blinked a few times and tilted her head. Why would Emily be hanging out with Slytherins? She was only a half-blood, and her mother was a Muggleborn Mistress of Magic. How could Slytherins possibly see that as cool? Surely this was some plan of theirs to bring her down in the end. In fact, Maria Sanchez knew it was. The thought made her die on the inside, knowing that Emily was making stupid decisions and spending time befriending the wrong crowds for the wrong reasons. The woman let out a faint groan.

And, as if she wasn't already in a bad enough mood, the headmaster rhetorically questioned things at home. He made the assumption that things were not going as well as they should be and maybe that was a reason as to why Emily was behaving different. The woman looked up at him with a cutting glance but then allowed it to soften. She and Emilio had recently been arguing more, but she doubted Emily had been present during any of it.

"None of the problems concern her," she said in a quieted sort of voice. She looked at her hands and then back up at him. "And she wasn't home when problems started. So don't worry about whether or not things at home are affecting her. She doesn't even know about them." She was speaking vaguely. She wanted to share her problems with someone, but she didn't want to really share them with the headmaster because he probably didn't care. She sighed a bit and stacked some of her papers a bit mindlessly and looked at her fingernails.

"Children must make mistakes for themselves. We are only guides. Let her do as she's been doing. It's a process of taking risks, making mistakes, and learning from them. Each must learn on his or her own. Thank you for letting me know, though, sir." She gave him a nod of her head and realized that he was looking at the decorations. She tilted her head and watched him but didn't say anything for a few moments. When she caught him staring at one picture in particular--one in which she was wearing a bathing suit and was on the beach with a one-year-old Nayib--she blinked a few times. The thought of her professor staring at her in such a way--it bothered her a bit. She knew that she wasn't the best looking woman in the world, but she had once been a very good-looking woman, even after the birth of her first child. In an attempt to grab his attention from the picture, she cleared her throat. Hopefully he'd stop looking. It made her uncomfortable.[/size][/font][/blockquote]