House: Gryffindor

Year: 6

Category: Drabble

Prompt: {Character} Susan Bones; [Weather] Sunny, but very cold; [Setting] Graveyard; [Action] Digging (kind of)

Word Count: 688

Voices of Ghosts

It was sunny, but very cold. The weather was just starting to turn away from winter, with the snow gone, but the ground was still frozen solid, making digging difficult. This last note would not normally be of any consequence to Susan Bones, who had been an Auror for the past five years now, had she not been standing in muggle garb just outside of what appeared to be the start of an archeology site.

On most cases, she'd have a partner, but as they seemed to be hitting a bit of a busy streak, she was on her own to cover this call. It wasn't likely to be a dangerous call, anyways. An undercover wizard at the site had noticed something he thought was magical, and had placed a call to the authorities to check it out.

Likely, all Susan would have to do was confirm the object in question was magical, wipe the minds of those who found it, and bring the object back to the ministry where someone with actual experience in the field could further classify it.

Her contact was a younger man named Nigel Ashworth, who had been a Ravenclaw a few years below her in school. A half-blood who had suffered greatly while the school had changed hands her seventh year, Nigel had decided to pursue muggle university after graduating Hogwarts. He was currently interning with the professor in charge of surveying the site after a muggle businessman had decided he wished to develop the land.

"Thanks for coming so quickly," Nigel greeted her as he slipped away.

"Just make sure I'm not wasting my time," Susan answered, but she was smiling as she teased. "What did you find?"

"I'm not really sure," Nigel admitted. "It's been… odd here, you know? There's been a feeling since we really got started, and we haven't made much progress what with the temperatures, but it's only gotten worse."

Susan inclined her head. She could feel it too.

"Anyways, a few hours ago, we found this." Nigel slid a clear white crystal from his pocket. "It's obviously magical, and the scans we've taken indicate there's a lot more of them in that area."

Susan blinked. "That's a recording crystal."

"What?" Nigel frowned.

"A recording crystal. You know, make a silly recording of your voice, play it back for your friends?" She slipped her wand out of her sleeve. "We used to use them all the time when we were kids."

"Never used one," Nigel admitted.

"Too bad, they're fun," Susan said, grinning. "There's a lot of settings to warp your voice and things. Let's see what this one says, shall we?"

"Alright," Nigel agreed, matching her grin, relaxing now that he knew the stones weren't dangerous.

Susan held the stone in one hand and tapped it with her wand. The crystal grew warm, and then-

A soft voice, female.

"Let this be a record of us for any who come after." There was a shaky inhale. "My name is Miriam Kestler. I am fifty-six years old. I am a muggleborn. Tomorrow I will die."

Susan's face was ashen as there was the sound of rustling, and then a new voice, younger, male. "My name is Zachary Gressen. I am nineteen years old. I am a muggleborn. Tomorrow I will die."

There was the sound again of the crystal being passed to a new person, but Susan acted quickly and stopped it from playing. She looked up to see Nigel, who was as pale as she was.

"This is… it's a recording from the Azkard Camp," she said, eyes wide. Azkard was one of three camps that had housed muggleborns during the war with Voldemort. The other two had been liberated as soon as Voldemort had fallen. The third, no one had been able to locate. The only reason they knew it existed was from occasional references in memos recovered from the residences of high ranking death eaters. Those who were interred there did not leave.

Susan turned to look at the dig site, eyes wide with horror.

"This is no dig site, Nigel. It's a graveyard."