CRASH!
Ginny looked at Harry, who looked back at her in a similar expression of alarm and they both sprinted after Mrs. Ansted upstairs. On the first floor landing, they found her banging the door towards the right in alarm and screaming her daughter's name.
"Clara!" she was distraught. "Clara! Open the door! It's locked!"
"Move!" said Harry in determination and pushed at the door with his shoulders. Ginny moved in to help, but with his three pushes it had bolted open.
"Clara!" Mrs. Ansted and Ginny both shouted as they rushed in. She was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, Ginny spotted her hiding behind her bed stand. She was crying.
Mrs. Ansted rushed towards her daughter and gathered her into her arms, sobbing herself.
"Are you OK? What happened, baby?"
"S-she was here mommy; the bad lady. She said… she said… she will kill us all and threw the flower pot at me." Clara buried her little head into her mother's shoulder.
"It's ok, baby. Harry and Ginny will take care of her. She will not come back." Mrs. Ansted looked at them ruefully.
Ginny took the room in. Harry was already investigating. There was certainly a flowerpot that was strewn on the floor and the window was open. Even though there was light streaming in from it, the room was oddly dark. She peered out of the window; the front yard was in view. The neighbourhood was a fairly quiet one and there didn't seem to be anything odd about it. Glancing back at Mrs. Ansted and Clara, who were still hugging each other, Ginny silently cast a revealing charm on the front yard, but there turned out to be no one there.
"The bad lady, did you say, Clara?" asked Ginny, turning around. "Who is she?"
Mrs. Ansted answered instead.
"There have been strange things happening in this house since my ex-husband left. At first, it was just small things which were ignorable, like utensils falling down from the stands without any apparent reason and things being found in a completely different place. I first thought it must be the kids and I must be losing track of things because I had gotten so busy, but then things started getting really weird."
"How weird?" Harry came and stood next to Ginny.
"Well, for once, electronic gadgets started working oddly. Like the doorbell would ring several times at once and there wouldn't apparently be anyone ringing it. Mobile phones started switching off by themselves, even though the battery was full. Lights would flicker and then get put out even though there are no electricity problems in the neighbourhood and once my attic bulb burst on its own when I was up there, clearing stuff."
Harry and Ginny glanced at each other, knowing very well that electricity has trouble working when there is magic around. However, they kept quiet.
"Then I started feeling the presence. You see, I am an empath — which means I have an ability to pick on people's feelings easily. I am susceptible to all the vibrations in the air taking place because of emotional shifts and I started to feel a presence around us, looming, always. Even when the kids were in bed and I was finishing up work in the kitchen, I would feel someone in the room. Cold air would pass by me for no reason. I started seeing shadows, and seeing reflections of two people, even though I was the only one standing in front of the mirror.
"And then one day, I entered the kitchen after a bath in the morning and I saw it."
"Saw what?" Ginny asked, curiously.
Mrs. Ansted gulped. "A cup was floating in mid-air. Right in front of me, as if someone invisible was holding it! I stood transfixed, not knowing what to do or think. Then I heard Clara calling me from upstairs and I turned and at that very moment the cup flung itself at me; I ducked reflexively and it crashed on the door frame behind me!"
She looked at them apprehensively, expecting them to say something against her, but they didn't. Harry and Ginny just stood silently next to each other, taking everything in with a serious expression. Seemingly gaining confidence by their behavior, she stood up, wiped her tears and offered them to come downstairs where they could hear the rest of the story comfortably.
"No, we'd rather hear it as we investigate the house." Said Harry and he moved out of the room.
They moved out of Clara's room, into the corridor. Now that she observed, Ginny felt the same gloomy, dark look throughout the house. It was a decent, average house and the construction seemed fairly new. It wasn't as if there wasn't enough flood of light or ventilation in it, but something seemed to be absorbing the light throughout the house.
"Has this been happening only since your husband left? Or have signs of this been happening ever since you moved into this place?" Ginny asked, moving around, checking out the place.
"No, things never seemed to be odd when Ted was here. There has been a looming sense of foreboding ever since he left, now that I think about it." Mrs. Ansted replied as she followed them.
"Has it been happening more in any particular part of the house?" Harry asked. "Do you mind?" he added, gesturing towards Mrs. Ansted's bedroom.
"No, go ahead," she replied and Harry peeped into her room. She continued, "The kitchen is one place I feel uneasy in, especially after it is dark. Otherwise, the whole house is spooky. The energy seems to be moving about. Clara sees this apparition of a woman in her room sometimes."
Ginny's eyes met Harry's. She knew what he was thinking. Clara had to be questioned and it would be Harry's job to look around the house in the meantime.
"Clara dear, would you like to tell us about this lady that you see in your room?" Ginny turned towards Clara and propped herself down on one knee, so that she could be face to face with the little girl. Clara looked at her mother with a scared face, who smiled at her encouragingly. Hiding behind her mother's dress, her blue eyes glistened with tears as she began her story.
"I was… I was playing in my room once in the evening with Mr. Todd and Mr. Tedd, when I heard a knock from my closet. I went and opened it and I saw a lady standing there, wearing a long black dress and she told me to keep quiet. Then she laughed and disappeared!"
"Oh my God, Clara, what happened then? Did she return?" Ginny said in a shocked tone to let Clara feel that she was genuinely interested.
"No she didn't come back that day, but one night, when I was asleep, she came and stood near my bed and s-stared at me. When I told her to leave, she didn't." Tears rolled down Clara's face when she said this.
"It's ok, sweetheart. She won't come anymore. I will drive her away."
"Will you really, ma'am?"
"Call me Ginny." Ginny smiled at her. "And yes, I will."
Ginny stood up as Harry came back to them.
"I've checked the whole house and nothing seems to be odd right now, but Agatha, to prove the occurrence in your house to our crew, we will have to make an attempt to capture it on film. If you don't mind, we would like to set up CCTV cameras in places that you think are haunted."
"All right." Mrs. Ansted looked tired.
"We will come again tomorrow Mrs. Ansted," Ginny smiled at her. "We will set up the cameras and observe for a few days. We need to know what it wants."
"Don't worry, Agatha. We believe you." Harry said as they walked towards the door. Mrs. Ansted just smiled, tiredly. They reached the door. Harry was just about to open it, when it swung open, revealing Marty wearing a bicycle helmet.
"Had just gone out for a ride." He muttered to his mother and jogged upstairs.
Ginny noticed Harry squinting at his retreating form.
"He likes going out on his own, that one. I don't say anything much to him because of all the stress that has been around the house. I don't blame him. I wish I could go out on my own like that too, sometimes." Mrs. Ansted sighed.
"No matter, Agatha. We will take a leave now. If you have any problem, don't hesitate to contact us." Harry smiled at her. Clara however, held Ginny's hand as she turned towards the door.
"She is a very bad lady, Ginny. Please make her go away."
*-*-*-*-*-*
It was a dull, grey afternoon in the relatively quiet neighbourhood of north London. Autumn leaves fell onto the ground and rustled, as the wizard and witch walked through them towards their apparition point. Birds chirped away happily and the wind danced around, soothingly cold. Ginny's head was buzzing with information and trying to comprehend what was just told to her and Harry Potter's presence right next to her didn't help matters. He strolled along casually, as if nothing was bothering him. The git.
She was going to get back at Martha, her head of the department, for this. It has been two years since she has worked on this job and has successfully solved sixteen cases singlehandedly, not considering the more than 20 cases she assisted on. She could do it on her own all right. So what if now the Improper Use of Magic office had meshed with the Auror department? She didn't need Harry Bloody Potter to 'assist' her on this case, even if it was an unusual one. And why has he started wearing those square glasses anyway? Makes him look ridiculous. Git.
"Did you say something?" Harry Potter's deep voice sounded suddenly in her ears.
She jumped in alarm. Had she said some of the things out loud? But then again, good riddance, if he had heard them.
"No," she muttered.
"Hmm…" He paused. "What do you think about the case?"
Oh, as if you don't have 10 theories already, Mr. Potter
"Well, there is obviously something weird going on as there are all these signs of magic happening, but no trace of it. That could mean two things, either someone is remotely controlling everything, or Clara is a witch and is having spurts of magic. But we can rule out both because I checked on the neighbours and didn't find anything suspicious there. In fact, they all seem to think that the lady has become demented since her husband left and is not able to manage everything on her own. And anyone doing magic from even further away, needs to be a very powerful witch or wizard and I don't think anyone like that that would have an agenda against this family, seeing their backgrounds.
"Also, Clara cannot have signs of magic showing, because if it were so, she would have been detected and registered by now. And anyway, she is too young. She said she can see an apparition of a woman. Muggles can't see ghosts, unless they have some magic blood in them, and the Ansted family doesn't have any history of any witch or wizard. I looked that up. That means we aren't dealing with a ghost here. It's something else. Maybe a poltergeist. But usually poltergeists don't have an agenda, except for annoying people. We should know; we've dealt with Peeves for years. Then again, muggles can't see poltergeists either. What is it then?"
Harry looked impressed.
"That is a fair amount of research that you have done, Weasley. I'm impressed."
"I'm a professional, Potter," said Ginny, stiffly, but felt a blush creeping up her face.
"What do you think of Marty?" Harry asked slowly.
"What about him?"
"Don't you think he is a little fishy? With his apparent lack of interest in his family. He didn't even show up when Clara was attacked."
"Well, that's how most teenagers are. He's having to deal with his own set of hormones and he's upset with whatever's going on in the house. He must be going on excursions of his own."
"We can't rule him out though," said Harry, one dark eyebrow raised.
"I never said I've ruled him out," said Ginny, hotly. "I'm just trying to think in a certain light. Of course, I'm going to corner him after I go back there next time!"
A small smile played on Harry's lips.
"What?" snapped Ginny, suddenly feeling self-conscious.
"I pity Marty…" Harry muttered.
"What?!"
"Nothing!"
" What's your deduction, then?" Ginny narrowed her eyes at him.
"Can't tell you now"
"Why?" Ginny felt annoyed.
"Because our apparition point's here. See you at the office!"
He gave her a small wave, turned on the spot and vanished, leaving a flustered Ginny behind.
