Based on the Harry Potter Series By J. K. Rowling
Chapter 45 “ Filiolus Ex Preteritus
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“Hey, did you two see something?” Ron asked, having burst in on Hermione and Patty, panting heavily from sprinting up the stairs. Harry, they noticed, was right behind him.
Hermione had somehow managed to get a smudge of ink on her nose and was rubbing it off as she answered. “Like what, Ron? We have been busy.”
Without responding, Ron and Harry turned and ran up the stairs to the third Floor; there they saw the evidence that they, indeed, were not imagining things. The hallway smelled like a spring thunderstorm had just passed through. A slight haze hanging in the charged air. Ron stopped, but Harry ran by him and opened the bedroom door without knocking.
The room was empty, with no evidence that anything was amiss outside of the haze and odors…and a portrait with the canvas singed nearly to the edges.
“Harry, anything there?” Ron had stuck his head into the room. Before Harry could answer, Ron was bodily pushed into the room by Hermione, Patty, and Ginny.
“Ohff, watch it!” Ron complained.
Ignoring him, Hermione asked, “Where’s McGonagall?” her voice thick with fear.
“How should we know, Herm…” Ron started to retort.
“She’s gone.” Harry’s statement was more of a statement than an answer. Then he pointed to the frame and singed canvas. “Look, have you ever seen anything like this?”
Remus, Fred and George arrived, followed shortly by the rest of the household.
“Oy, Harry, did something come out of the portrait?” Ron’s eyes, already bloodshot, began to look like two red billiard balls.
“No, Ron. Nothing came out, something went in,” Hermione informed everyone. She was biting her nails, a habit Ron thought she had broken in her second year.
“Look everyone, Hermione and I are trying to finish the translation that might tell us what this is all about. Give us a couple hours and then we can get together in the kitchen.” Patty dragged Hermione out of the room and went back to their work. Everyone else stood around looking confused, a condition far too common over the past few months.
“I wish that quill of Keric’s still worked, we’d be finished with this by now. If I see one more Latin verb in first person, singular, future, active, indicative I’ll hurl.” This statement brought a rueful laugh from Hermione.
“Amaba, amabas, amabat, I know what you mean. It could be worse; French has far more irregular verbs.”
“Or it could be Spanish, it has far less.” Patty opened her mouth and pretended to gag herself. Hermione started giggling so hard she knocked her bottle of ink on the Floor.
“How about that strange language Benjamin Franklin invented? Did you know about that?” Hermione asked, while taking out her wand to clean the spilt ink.
“No way! He invented his own language?” This seemed highly odd to Patty. Why would someone bother?
“Yep, it was completely phonetic so he had to invent a load of new letters, too. And it had no irregular verbs…”
“I like it all ready!” Now Patty started giggling, a little punch-drunk from the long day.
“…and he corresponded with a woman for a number of years in this language.”
“I thought he was supposed to be smart!” This comment brought about still another fit of laughter.
Hermione stifled her giggles. “Shhh! We better get this finished, it’s half nine now. Can’t be having fun, can we?”
Over the next few minutes the girls traded looks when they translated a meaningful sentence or phrase. Occasionally Patty would whistle and Hermione would look at the translation.
“Hey, Hermione?”
“Hmm?”
“Fred’s a nice guy.”
This got her attention. “Counting the days, are you? Say, what did you and Fred talk about on your walk last night?” Hermione gave Patty a silly, inquisitive look.
Abandoning her work completely, Patty turned and faced Hermione. “God, Hermione, I feel so out of place in this world sometimes, I mean, in your world. Fred’s been like a bridge for me, helping me understand…I mean, you have too!” Patty interjected quickly upon seeing a fleeting look of hurt pass over Hermione’s face.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out that way. You know you’re my best friend.” In fact, Hermione did not know this, but was pleased with the sentiment. “I think Fred and I will be bloody great friends, if I can keep him away from George.”
“That may not be too difficult, without their shop. But don’t push them apart; they have a long history together.”
“Yeah, I thought about that. Well, it’s been an interesting five days. Kind-of intense. Like war...you know those movies, the guy is going off to war and meets a girl and they fall in love…”
“Are you in love, Pat?” Hermione asked, her mouth showing just the faintest hint of a grin.
“NO! Not LOVE love, I just meant…like the intensity of war…” Patty was becoming flustered.
“I understand, that’s part of what sparked Ron and I. But we had been friends for years, too.”
“Well, I’m sure that helped. It’s just that I’ve never been…I mean, never felt…” Patty looked up at the clock. “Aw, bugger! Let’s go down, it’s past ten now. This stuff is going to getting interesting.”
“Interesting?! That’s like saying a Christian would find the Second Coming interesting.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Come on, partner.”
“Mini, I hope you know what you’re doing. I wouldn’t try to argue with Stefen, let alone the girls.”
“You’re still calling them ‘the girls’? That makes me an infant, I suppose.”
“You joke, Mini, but they each have a place in our world.” Galen’s tone was warm, but a bit reproving. “Little happens without the four of us being involved in some way, just remember that.”
“You say this is a foolish move,” McGonagall spat out in growing frustration. “But if you really felt that way you wouldn’t be here.”
“I told you, Mini, I can do only so much on my own. Your sincerity is admirable, but my family is, well…stubborn. Look what it did to my father.”
“Yes, and your father was not the only one to make bad decisions, was he?”
Galen stopped and hung his head in shame. “No, he wasn’t. And you know that.” Now turning and looking at McGonagall, the son of Merlin started to show some of his own frustration. “We all did what we thought was right back then. I brought everyone back who wanted to come back, and I honestly thought the others were not being truthful with themselves. I think it’s why we put the restrictions on ourselves later...”
“I’m sorry, Gale, it must have been terrible for you. But I’m here, now, trying to keep things together with just a handful of help. Who else could I turn to?” McGonagall took the hands of her friend and showed him the sadness in her soul. For his part, Galen knew it could not have been any other way; but perhaps there could be a compromise between Stefen, my sisters...and me.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve called me ‘Gale’, I’d forgotten what it felt like.” A warm smile crossed his face.
McGonagall blushed, thinking back almost fifty years. “Albus was a wonderful choice, my dear, but he could never really replace you.”
The demigod smiled sadly and vanished with his friend, reappearing in a completely nondescript field. McGonagall saw before her, Stefen, Galen’s twin - his identical twin, though none would know to look at him. Renae and Hannah sat on the left side of their brother; McGonagall could not tell which was which. They chatted amiably but did not acknowledge either Galen or McGonagall. In fact, none of them appeared to care they were present.
Taking the chair to the right of his twin, Galen began to speak but was cut off immediately by Stefen.
“What now, brother? What could she bring to us other than petitions?” Stefen’s voice was harsh towards his brother, like he was tired of being bothered about something.
Galen immediately tried to defend McGonagall’s position. “We all know the rules, Stefen; I paid for both my offenses. And you have all loved like Minerva and I.”
“’Loved’ brother?” McGonagall did not know which twin was which, but the question surprised her.
“Loves, Hannah. You have all known what Minerva and I feel, even you, brother.” Sarcasm edged into Galen’s voice when he addressed Stefen.
“Then what does she want that you cannot give, Galen?” This time Renae asked the question.
“She…”
Before Galen could say more, McGonagall interrupted him. “Please, I ask for a return to the status quo. What happened was an accident, and part of an effort to keep harmony in our world. No one anticipated the results of Riddle’s actions, nor ours to defeat him. And none of us knew the significance of the cave.”
The children of Merlin watched and listened without a trace of emotion on their faces, except when Stefen sneered at the mention of Riddle’s name.
“Galen, we have warned you about interfering. This offense will be on your head.” Renae addressed her brother with a voice that was almost pleading restraint. The other siblings nodded agreement.
“And we warned you that interference could not continue.” There was a very long pause, far too long for McGonagall. Galen sat, impassive. The for children of Merlin were, McGonagall was quite certain, arguing silently, within their very thoughts, and she was only picking up the occasional verbal outbursts.
“No, brother, we will not change her world back without…”
“NO! You must…” Galen would fight for her, though he had made known to McGonagall that there was little chance for assistance; he did not get far.
“SIT DOWN, BROTHER! You, among all of us, should know what happens when free choice is ignored. Ignorance is not an excuse, they chose to fight.” McGonagall saw the pain in Galen’s face at the rebuke from Hannah.
“They chose to fight the seeds HE planted!” Galen was pointing to his brother.
After another very long pause which left Stefen looking particularly sour, Hannah spoke.
“We know this, and Stefen also paid for his interference.” After a short pause where Hannah looked at Renae, she continued. “But neither are we heartless, Galen; at least Renae and I are not.” The comment brought another sneer from Stefen. “We will not repair the damage as you ask. As for the toys they have created, neither you nor her kind have proven to us they possess the wisdom to use them. They will have to start over.”
Although McGonagall did not understand everything that had been said to Galen, the impact of the words was clear. She had been granted something, but what it was and how much it would cost had not been revealed, yet. And what do they mean by start over?
Galen moved from his chair to face his siblings. McGonagall noticed he faced his sisters more directly than his brother. There was a long pause and it felt as if the four were communicating again, but doing so silently in their minds.
Finally Galen spoke, “I accept. Thank you.”
As Galen started to turn away, Stefen’s voice, thick with an implied threat, said, “Don’t expect leniency again, brother. I decide the next round.”
Stefen cursed and vanished, along with the twin sisters, and McGonagall found herself alone with Galen.
“What did your brother mean, Galen, by ‘the next round’?”
Sighing, Galen turned to face McGonagall. “When my family set up this process to maintain restraint amongst ourselves, we chose to allow us each three offenses. If a forth offense is committed, the sibling who is the...how would you call them? Perhaps ‘judge?’ Yes… that sibling would have the option to expel the four-time offender to a mortal life. With today’s actions I have offended three times and now Stefen is the ‘judge’ for my next offense. I have no doubt what his punishment will be.”
Galen explained this as though it were nothing significant. McGonagall knew otherwise. “I’m sorry, Gale. I knew Albus was one and this is another, what was the third offense?”
Galen gave the old witch a long look, wondering if it was finally time to tell her the cost of their love. “You, my dear, were the first.”
With eyes wide in surprise, McGonagall stood, shocked.
“That was the price for your powers, Mini. Albus was the second. I argued about that one; Stefen had aided Grindlewald, but not to the extent I aided Albus.”
“I never knew, I’m so sorry…about…” McGonagall started to choke up as she realized what Galen had done for her sixty years ago.
“No, Mini, don’t be sorry, please. It was worth it, even though it lasted such a short time. You must return now and bring the news to your friends, let’s first be certain there is no misunderstanding between us.” With a wave of his arm, Galen transformed the empty field into a comfortable sitting room, a tea service next to the table.
Earl Gray, he remembers!
Many of those around the table were fighting to keep their eyes open. The stress of the day, McGonagall’s mysterious disappearance, Percy and Snape and their feelings, all mixed together in a cauldron “ a stew of emotions. When Hermione and Patty had seated themselves, Arthur stood and started to speak.
“Hermione, given Minerva’s absence, would you please share with us what she asked you and Patty to look into?”
“Surely, um…” Hermione stood and looked to Patty who handed all the notes to her. “Profess…I mean, Minerva, asked us to look into a part of this book dealing with the lives of Merlin’s children after they had built Hogwarts. Most of you know that Salazar Slytherin, who we now know was Merlin’s son, Stefen, was the first to leave the school over disagreements with his brother about…”
Hermione went on explain the history of the founders of Hogwarts after the school was established. As she stepped through the commonly known facts about the four founders, she began to interlace the “facts” from history with the new revelations from the book.
“The book simply states that as each of the four ‘left this world,’ implying death, and their likeness appeared in a portrait as an animated shadow of their living self. Even Slytherin returned to the school before his siblings had departed. His portrait, according to the book, was added about 1070.” Hermione looked at the faces looking at her. There was little sleepiness now.
“Hermione, does the book say anything about the Chamber of Secrets?” Remus asked quietly. He was holding a sleeping James and wondered why there had been no reference to it.
“No, none at all, Remus. I don’t know if any of you noticed, but this book has the date 979 as the meeting point of Merlin’s children. It later tells of all the events through the ‘death’ of Slytherin, almost one hundred years later. But if Galen wrote this book and ‘died’ before Slytherin, who really wrote this story?”
Curious looks were abundant, with a couple confused expressions mixed in. Patty offered her and Hermione’s opinion about what this meant.
“We talked about this a bit, Hermione and I. We see that Galen claimed to be Godric Gryffindor. Or a more realistic way to interpret this is that Galen reappeared as Gryffindor in the tenth century. If this is true, and we now believe it is, we have to ask ourselves what really happened to the four children of Merlin?”
Patty paused and gave the table their final conclusion. “We’re pretty certain that all four of Merlin’s children are still with us, in some form, even today.”
The weightiness of this suggestion held everyone deeply in their thoughts. Patty, standing, collected her papers, but a silent movement caught her eye. Looking up, she saw one familiar person and one she knew only by reputation.
“Excellent, Hermione, Ms. Lee, wonderful work. Though I really should not be surprised; isn’t that right, Minerva?”
“Yes, we knew Hermione was a very clever witch. And Ms. Lee has made a name for herself also, don’t you think?”
McGonagall stood at the bottom of the landing with Albus Dumbledore next to her. Both smiled at the gathered witches and wizards as their mouths opened in astonishment.
A number of those present began to mumble incoherent words and phrases, quite understandable for the circumstances. Two people said nothing but approached McGonagall and the man next to her.
Hermione was the first one there and embraced McGonagall. “I was hoping you’d be back. You had Patty and I worried.”
McGonagall smiled at Hermione. “Yes, it took a little longer that I thought, but I was successful, at least in part.”
Hermione released her former Transfiguration professor and turned to the man standing next to her. He certainly LOOKED like Albus Dumbledore, but Hermione knew he was not. She was far more curious how long...
“You’re Galen, aren’t you?” she asked quietly, almost in a whisper, her words filled with awe.
“Yes, my dear, among other people you’re familiar with. Most recently Albus Dumbledore, thus this most alarming form; I apologize.”
The man had all the mannerisms of Dumbledore, including the twinkle in his eye that told you he knew much more than he was letting on. Harry, who continued to approach “Dumbledore” very slowly, had not heard the last exchange.
“Professor Dumbledore?” was all Harry could ask, confusion edging into the question.
A sad look came upon “Dumbledore’s” face, perhaps a bit of shame, also. When Galen put his hand on Harry’s shoulder he felt confusion, tension and even fear.
“No, Harry, I’m sorry.” What he said next shook everyone, even Hermione and Patty who thought they were one-up on everyone else. “You never knew the real Albus Dumbledore, none of you, except Minerva; he died in 1941. He was a very powerful wizard and left me his body and mind when his soul departed. Fortunately for us all, much of his personality remained, as Minerva can attest, when I took over his physical form. The Albus Dumbledore you came to know and love was a combination of the two of us, and I consider myself a better person for what he gave me. I am, as Hermione realized, Galen, the second son of Merlin.”
The tears and smiles he saw before him caused a place in Galen’s heart to be thankful for what he had just done with McGonagall; but soon they would learn the price, then there may not be as many smiles.
“Please, Harry, have a seat and I will give you, and everyone, the answers you want.” Ginny got up and led a very stunned Harry back to his seat.
“Where shall I start? Let me begin with Hermione and Patty’s work, which I’m sure Mini asked them to translate for you. They are both correct in the facts and theories presented to you. Stefen, my twin, was born shortly before I, and he rightfully claims the title of ‘first born.’ My twin sisters, Hannah and Renae, live also. And yes, we are the founders of Hogwarts, but I’ll get to that shortly.”
“In our world, the world of magic, we have lived for a little over fifteen hundred years. Our beginning was not as ambiguous as our father’s; we always knew our identity. We also enjoyed the convenience of knowing what we could do as we grew, unlike our father who discovered his powers over forty-five hundred years.”
Starting to walk around, touching his finger to his chin as Dumbledore would do when thinking, Galen began to fill in the blanks and answer the unanswered questions.
“After father left us, my siblings and I interacted with both the world of magic and the world of the ‘Magicless,’ or ‘without Magic.’ Over time the non-magical people became known as ‘Muggles,’ which is simply Gaelic slang for ‘without Magic.’ Our existence was known, but we were considered to be more like spirits than humans with miraculous powers. Later, we began to be considered gods, an unhealthy reputation for anyone to try and live up to; and one altogether contrary to our semi-Christian upbringing.”
“The two hundred or so people with whom I had returned from father’s world with magical powers, established themselves in a small community near the town of Hogsmeade. These first magical humans received attention from all of us, but mostly from me, as I chose to live amongst them after we were cast out of our homes.”
“By the year 800 AD, our small community had grown and taken over the village. The population of wizards at that time was still quite low, only a few thousand or so, but our presence was clearly felt among Muggles. In the course of the next two hundred years our influence on Muggles began to provoke friction, just as my family had had trouble amongst ourselves as young adults.”
“To avoid the bitter fate that had befallen us, my brother and sisters and I met for the first time, all together, at Carlisle in 822. The gathering seemed to go smoothly until Stefen began to incite animosity between his closest followers and the rest of the magical community. This friction became violent and in 824 Stefen pushed a group of his private followers into open warfare with the rest of the community.”
“We were fortunate that Stefen did not prepare his people as well as he might have. They were easily defeated and Stefen vanished shortly thereafter with fifteen or twenty of his most ardent supporters. You might have guessed by now that this core of people who followed Stefen, and then Salazar Slytherin, as he chose to call himself, are the ancestors of those known amongst you as the ‘Pure Bloods.’”
“Loyalty among the magical community towards us had always been a source of pride. Stefen soured us all to this practice, but still we did not discourage it. Over the next one hundred fifty years we all gained loyal followers who dedicated themselves to our deepest and most sacred convictions.”
“In 979, my siblings and I decided to put aside our differences and create a school to help young witches and wizards. From this dream, Hogwarts was conceived and born. But it was not long before we found ourselves unable to deal with the same issues of power that had split us apart in the past.”
“In the last days we were together as the founders of Hogwarts, we decided to establish a process which would require each of us to remain neutral to the development of the world, both Magical and Muggle. We would each retreat into a world of our own choosing, meeting only when one of us had broken our vow not to interfere with the world. This was the only time our family truly agreed on something important. Stefen later grew to detest his weakness for agreeing to these vows, but it was too late to change; we had staked our lives and powers on the vow to judge ourselves.”
“The unbreakable vow?” Moody asked. “This was the beginning of the unbreakable vow, wasn’t it?”
Galen nodded. “We established rules and penalties to control ourselves and swore these vows to force compliance. We all knew what damage father had caused and did not want to repeat his mistakes, I most of all. Each of us was given three ‘chances.’ If a forth offense occurred, we could face the possibility of having our powers stripped and mortality inflicted upon us, for at the time we did not know if we were truly immortal beings or not. We did age, unlike our father, but we also had the ability to change our appearance at will. You are all familiar with the remnants of this magic today.”
Everyone at the table followed Galen’s eyes as he looked towards Tonks.
“The sole exception to our agreement was Hogwarts. At its beginning, Hogwarts had only a handful of students and we granted ourselves, each, one five year term as Headmaster. As such, we could practice and develop magic peculiar to our personalities and tastes. You later came to call this ‘Thread Magic’ because it was derived from Merlin’s children and not Merlin himself.”
“Stefen did not approve of this process and left the school for many years. He returned near the end of my term as Headmaster, almost fifteen years later, asking to be the last of the four founders in that role. Seeing no reason to deny Stefen his request, my sisters and I approved.”
“Soon after Stefen’s term began, we realized that his motives were far from wholesome. He was using his position, as the last of the founders, to mold the entire school into his idea of what it should be. My sisters and I invoked our own rules, and as a penalty, forced Stefen to step down. He disappeared shortly after that and was not heard from for almost nine hundred years.”
“Seeing the folly of the way we structured Hogwarts, and the way it gave the Headmaster too much power, we broke the school into four ‘houses,’ one named after each of the four founders. We did this to encourage growth in each house based on the founder’s personality and values, even Stefen’s.”
“With the school now well established, Renae and Hanna left under the guise of death, to their own worlds and let the worlds of Magic and Muggles alone. I simply disappeared into the world and lived as a traveler, moving from place to place every few years, just as my father had. After many centuries we were greatly disturbed, though not surprised, to discover Stefen working quietly in Muggle and Wizarding affairs. Nothing he did was so overt that we had to censure him, but it was very foolish of us not to see which direction he was going.”
“In 1920 Stefen reappeared to us and told us of the world he had created for himself. It sounded much like our own, secluded, unassuming, and out of the lives of the non-magical world. We were happy to have him back under our noses. This released us from the babysitting roles we had adopted to monitor his interference; we no longer had to worry about the silly and seemingly harmless magic he was practicing on Muggles and Wizards.”
“It was well into the 1930’s when we began to suspect Stefen had indeed been manipulating the Magic and Muggle worlds more than we had observed. Those of you who know world history also know what happened in this period; the rise of Fascism, dictatorships, and Nazi Germany. As we spent more time looking into the power behind the dictators like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and others, we realized they each had a very powerful dark wizard working with them. Digging further and deeper, it was obvious that Stefen had planted the seeds of these evil men and wizards over the past few hundred years.”
“We confronted Stefen shortly before the out brake of World War II and forced him to withdraw whatever support he was giving to these terrible people. When he refused we invoked our rules, for the second time, forcing Stefen to discontinue his work. This time he did, but it was almost too late. The dark wizard Grindlewald very nearly brought victory to Germany.”
Looking around the room, there were no drooping eyes or yawns to indicate anything other than a completely spellbound audience.
“The world I had created for myself was different than those created by my siblings. They lived physically separate from this world, I did not. As I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed the company of Muggles and Wizards alike, and lived incognito for hundreds of years, until 1937. That was the year I moved to Scotland, met, and fell in love with a beautiful young Muggle girl by the name of Minerva McGonagall.”
All eyes shot to McGonagall who sat, unmoving, with just a hint of a bush on her cheeks.
“I had been with women before, but Mini captured my heart like no other. What Mini, I am quite sure, has never told you, is that she was born without magic and no history of magic in her family. I chose to give her the powers of magic as a wedding gift, and thus earned my first offense for interfering. Stefen was more than happy to force this upon my sisters. While Stefen was technically correct in his actions, we had all performed similar actions with Muggles and Wizards alike, claiming our love for the person allowed them special consideration. But Stefen was jealous of my deep affection and forced the issue on the grounds that I had given Mini far more that general magical abilities; and, he was correct, I had. Fortunately for me, my sisters refused to allow Stefen’s request for my second offense when I refused to withdraw the powers from Mini. But through this action my brother and I were finally, irrevocable, alienated.”
“When the dark days of World War II were at their height, Mini pleaded with me to do something for the Allied nations. She reasoned with me that since Stefen had given the enemy so much power, it was only fair that I do something to balance the field. An opportunity arose when her teacher and friend, Albus Dumbledore, was killed by Grindlewald in 1941.”
“Without regret, and in trying to give heart to the Wizarding community that had been devastated by the war, I assumed Dumbledore’s body as he died. As you heard, this earned me my second offense. Four years later, I came face-to-face with Grindlewald. I was trapped in the body of a great wizard where I could not interfere in worldly affairs above the talents of the host what carried me. To avoid a third offense I had to fight Grindlewald just as Albus Dumbledore, with only his abilities, as he would have fought the dark wizard.”
“The battle was terrible and all I could contribute was my soul, leaving the mind and body of Albus to fight a truly evil being. You all know the outcome of that battle. I was very fortunate, for Grindlewald was, if you measured his raw power, much stronger than Albus. But it was Dumbledore’s intellect that won the battle by cunning and raw nerve.”
Galen started chuckling, remembering the victory. “Oh, you should have heard Stefen, he ranted and raved for months about how I had interfered. Fortunately, my sisters knew the truth and refused to charge me with another offense.”
“My relationship with Mini continued for many years as Albus Dumbledore, until she came on the staff at Hogwarts and our dealings with Voldemort eventually separated us to the point of estrangement. We were never bitter; we still loved each other very much. But the circumstances of the times pulled us further and further apart, and nothing short of abandoning the Wizard and Muggle world could change things.”
“So, now we are here, January of 1999. The battle which Mr. Potter here was a part of in your Chamber of Secrets was the cause of its destruction. The effects of this, as you’ve seen, took nine months to be fully realized. You now also find yourself in the position of being the only wizards and witches remaining in this world. Mini...forced me to ask my family to return magic in your world, but we were denied.”
The moans around the table were many. Through the story they all hoped Galen would somehow repair the damage and return things to normal. It was not to be.
“Sir, um, what can we do?” George asked, his voice shaking a little with fear. Nearly everyone looked expectantly to Galen for his answer.
“You, George? There is nothing you can do. I, however, can offer to your former brother and sister wizards something less than what they had before and a bit more than what they enjoy now. And that is all.”
Ron screwed up his face trying to figure out if that was something good or bad. Harry noticed that a few others had the same look.
“But you must realize, even if I had been allowed to change everything back to the way it was, nothing COULD be the way it was. For the first time since the fifth century the Muggle world is completely aware of yours. Life is going to be very, very different.”
“All I’m allowed to offer, to everyone affected, is a return to the basic magical abilities they possessed at birth. Nothing more, and still less than you think. My siblings, as a price for this, have removed from your world all creatures and inanimate objects that possess magic as their reason for being. In the words of my siblings, you have become unwise and undeserving of the magical creatures and devices you possess. They have been, as a consequence, destroyed.”
This, finally, more than any other revelation, brought gasps, curses, and protests from everyone at the table. Galen heard the many voices with a bowed head. When everyone had finished venting, he continued.
“There is no compromise, no redress of grievances, or appeal. And, in fact, there’s still more that all wizards and witches must do.”
Protests started up again, but Galen silenced them.
“Each man and woman who was a wizard or witch before Monday evening, must make a choice to return to their world of magic under the restriction I mentioned above. I’m certain Stefen placed this restriction due to my actions after father disappeared. Anyone may choose either way, but this choice may not take place until one month from today, and it is irreversible.”
“Does this include the object Scrimgeour uses?” Harry asked.
“You refer to the medallion, of course. It is, as we speak, powerless. But I would not worry too much about him now.” Galen made the comment so casually no one really paid attention to it.
“What about our wands?” Ginny asked.
“Wands are not magical, they merely focus your energy by their very nature.
“What about squibs?” Fred asked, looking at Patty.
Galen shook his head. “Their natural state does not contain magic.”
A few more questions arose, but everyone was in shock at the story and its implications. One thing they all knew for certain, Galen was correct when he said the world would be very, very different.
When Harry asked Galen about his plans, the answer was simple, “I’m finished here, Harry. I shall return to my inconspicuous appearance, and hopefully spend some time with Minerva. But we shall see.”
With that last statement, Galen, in the form of Albus Dumbledore, vanished from their presence.
A/N: Filiolus Ex Preteritus is Latin for gods from the past, or gods from history. (That’s “god” with a lower case ‘g’.) You might be familiar with the more popular, Deus Ex Machina, or God from a Machine. This usually refers to a miraculous event saving the hero or heroine of a story.