Even in her own life time she had seen the pattern. First it was Grindelwald. After his defeat, the world returned to normal, expecting that no one else would dare to make a play for power. Voldemort's first reign had shocked the world. His first death, at the unintentional hands of a baby, of all the indignities, had returned the community to a sense of complacency despite multiple warnings to the contrary. His second rise had been as devastating as his first because of it.

Five years had passed since his final death, once again thanks to Potter. And she was amazed that the wizarding world as a whole was not expecting what she knew was coming. It was mind boggling. She was brought out of her thoughts by a knock on her office door.

"Enter."

Cormac McLaggen entered the room with a smile on his face. "Good morning, Madame LeGrot. I do hope you're well?" he asked.

"I am, thank you for asking." He was such a polite boy. "Do you have the research I asked you for, Cormac? About Dark Arts trends?" He silently handed her the folder and she slid her glasses onto her face in order to read it. As she had known, there had been an ebb and flow in Dark Arts usage in the past one hundred years. She was sure that it extended longer than that, but it had seemed unfair to ask for more detailed research on such short notice.

She sighed as she tossed the report on her desk and looked up at Cormac, who had been standing patiently while she read the report.

"What do you think about it, Cormac?"

"I find it interesting to note that the data all points to the same thing: that society, on a whole, seems to follow a certain pattern. People feel safe and become complacent and this creates a false sense of security. During this period of time when people are too trusting and not watchful enough, the activity in Dark Arts increases to the point where a new faction can rise, unnoticed, unchecked. By the time people realize what has happened, the evil is too widespread-it is too late to easily remove their influence." He stood there before her desk, unsure if this was what she wanted to hear.

"A very nice summary of the report, Cormac. It's become apparent to me that we have entered that state of complacency. Society is ripe for a new Dark Lord to rise and seems unwilling to even consider the possibility. Do you think a pamphlet warning against the possibility would do any good?" She doubted it would. Ministry pamphlets were more often used as jokes than taken seriously. Though, considering the previous examples, she couldn't blame people for that.

"Do you think that would have any impact? I think most people use the Ministry pamphlets as owl-cage liner, especially after the ones from the Fudge-era." I sure know I do. "Besides, without having physical proof of an imminent threat, I think most people wouldn't heed the warning," he said thoughtfully. "Perhaps a stronger warning?" he added.

"I fear that even a stronger warning would not work," she sighed. "If only there were physical proof that we could present to the public. A Dark Mark appearing in the sky would go a long way towards making people aware of the threat. Unfortunately, that would also mean a return of the horror that always accompanied the Mark as well. We're just not prepared for that to happen, either theMLE or the wizarding world in general."

Cormac pondered her remark. "I can see how that could work," he said. "If there were a way to do it without scaring the masses too much." All right, then. I'll just add that to my to-do list. What's a mere Dark Mark after a few Unforgiveables?

"I don't think there would be a way to do it without scaring the masses. But maybe that's what the wizarding community needs: a good old-fashioned scare. Did you know that fear is one of the reasons Halloween is so popular with Muggles? They flirt with the idea of being scared when in reality they are not prepared to handle real terror."

Nodding slightly, Cormac thought he understood where Madam LeGrot was going with this. "Halloween is an appropriate time for being properly scared."

[Summary: Maria and Cormac talk about history and Dark Arts trends. Cormac decides to take care of that meddlesome priest... Er, take some initiative to warn people that the Dark Arts are still a threat.]