Harry and Bill went to Purge and Dowse, Ltd. and after stating their business to the mannequin in the window, walked through the window and made their way into the Hospital. They were directed to the storage area where the doctor had been murdered and some vials stolen. Upon entering, an Obliviator intercepted them.
"No one is allowed in this area until it has been cleared by the Ministry," the Obliviator said.
"My name is Bill Weasley," Bill said as he showed his Auror badge to the Obliviator, "and this is Harry Potter" Harry showed his own badge as Bill introduced him, "we're from the Aurors Office and were sent here to investigate."
"Pardon me," the Obliviator said as he extended his hand for a brief handshake with Bill and then Harry, "Jack Blighton of the Obliviators, some of the others and I were the first to arrive on the scene. Come with me and I will show you what we have been able to determine so far."
Bill and Harry followed Jack to the area where the body of the doctor lay. For a second after it had been announced to Harry that one of the doctors had been killed, he had been concerned that it was his old friend Neville Longbottom, who had become a Herbologist and worked at St. Mungo's trying to develop new remedies and medicine. But Harry figured that if that had been the case he would have been told before hand. To his relief, Harry was proven correct when he saw the body.
Harry and Bill had both seen dead bodies before, but this was their first one as Aurors and they were looking at it differently than others they had seen. They were taking in all that they could on the way to the scene of the crime, they stopped and began to listen when Jack started to speak.
"His name is James Wellington," Jack started, "he was a doctor here working at the time of the break-in. It seems that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was a bit of a struggle though, we found his wand and determined that the last spell he cast with it was stupefy."
"Is this how you found him?" Bill asked after a pause.
"Yes," Jack answered, "except we turned him onto his back to try and determine the cause of death."
"Do you have any ideas about that?" Harry asked.
"We think it may have been one of the unforgivable curses" Jack answered.
"Avada Kedavra" Harry said.
"It looks that way," Jack answered.
"Thank you for all your assistance," Bill began to Jack, "Potter and I will take it from here."
Jack nodded in response and then excused himself. Bill and Harry began to look around the room. Harry started examining the body while Bill looked around the room for any kind of clue. Harry looked at the body, he could see that the Avada Kedavra curse was indeed the likely killer, the body showed all the signs. And Harry had been around enough victims of the curse to recognize the effects.
With what Jack said about the wand and that Wellington had used the stupefy curse. He figured that if there was a struggle, there might be someway of finding out who the culprit was. It was about that time that Bill snapped his partner out of his train of thought.
"He Harry," Bill called out, "come here and take a look at this." Bill had been looking at some of the shelves, particularly the ones with the missing vials. Harry walked over to where Bill was standing.
"Have you found something?" Harry asked.
Bill took a step back and paused for a moment before he next spoke. "Do you notice anything strange about these shelves?" Bill asked Harry.
Harry looked at the shelves for a few moments trying to find anything odd about them. Then he realized that the fact that only a few vials were gone and that nothing was in disarray was what was strange about the shelves.
"Whoever did this knew exactly what he was doing," Harry answered after a few moments pause, "nothing is in disarray and only a few specific vials are missing." Bill nodded.
"We need to look around and see if we can find any kind of lead" Bill said. "Then we need to find out what was in those vials, we may have a major problem on our hands." Harry understood.
"You go talk to the front desk," Harry said to Bill, "I'll look around here." Bill nodded and left.
Harry turned around and walked back to where Wellington's body lay. Harry tried to picture in his mind what happened. He stood where he imagined the murdered doctor had stood and looked around there and where the body lay. He briefly considered bringing his wife's time turner and watching the events unfold, even stopping the murder from happening. But then he remembered what she had told him before about wizards who meddle with time.
Harry looked around a little longer, and then something caught his eye. A glimmer of light reflected off the floor and then Harry's glasses. He slowly bent down and picked up what was on the floor. After a closer look, he saw that it was a shred of silver. Harry's mind began to race, he tried to think of what a piece of silver like that would be doing on the floor, and it looked like it had been scratched or singed off of something bigger.
He kept thinking, and then he remembered something that he had seen years before in a graveyard, the first place he had seen the Avada Kedavra curse used. He remembered seeing someone receive a new silver hand. Bill came back into the room holding a piece of parchment with some words written on it at about that time and Harry spoke.
"It was Wormtail," Harry said immediately before Bill could say anything.
"What makes you say that?" Bill asked.
"I found this over there," Harry said holding up the shard of silver and gesturing over to where he had found it. "I am sure that we will find it to be exactly like what makes up his right hand. And he fits the bill of being a Death Eater and he's already used the Avada Kedavra curse."
"I have to say that I doubt that it was Wormtail Harry," Bill said. "He was no more than Voldemort's stooge. He wouldn't scratch his arse without Voldemort telling him to first."
"You're right about that," Harry said, "but we have to remember that the Death Eaters seem to be on the rise again. And that someone has to be leading them now." Harry paused as though a sudden revelation had come to him, "Wormtail probably became someone else's stooge."
Harry paused and could see that Bill was thinking of what had been said. Harry then remembered the list Bill had in his hand.
"What's that?" Harry asked pointing to the list his partner was holding.
"You gave your convincing theory before I had a chance to tell you," Bill said, Harry noticed that Bill had called the theory convincing. "This is what was in the missing vials. They were all essences of different magical creatures." Bill ended and handed Harry the list.
Harry took it and read. "Essences of manticore, werewolf, and dragon." He looked up after he had read the list and asked his partner. "What the heck does all this mean?"
"Hell if I know," Bill answered, "but Wormtail and the Death Eaters obviously know something we don't. They knew exactly what they were doing and took three specific kinds of vials. And they were willing to kill to get them." Harry and Bill faced each other for a little while before Harry spoke.
"They are definitely planning something," Harry said.
"That much is obvious," Bill said, "but what could they want with those vials? It's not like they can make a kind of poison or anything with them. The essence of a creature is only harvested for experimentation or…" Bill paused and a look of dread came to his face, "…breeding" he concluded.
"Bloody hell," Harry said, "you think they're trying to breed some kind of army of super creatures?"
"I'm trying to imagine the kind of thing they could cook up with elements of a manticore, a werewolf, and a dragon," Bill replied. "We have to get back to Minister Moody and tell him about this, but we don't know where to look for them" he added. Harry nodded, and then Bill noticed something on Wellington's body.
"Did you notice that?" Bill asked Harry as he pointed to the bottom part of Wellington's lab coat.
"No" Harry said. He bent down and picked it up, seeing that it was a piece of parchment with the Death Eaters seal on the front. He broke the seal and unraveled the parchment to reveal nothing. Harry thought for a moment and then remembered seeing Snape do something to the Marauder's Map in an attempt to read it.
Harry waved his wand over the parchment and uttered "Reveal, your secrets." Lettering then appeared and he moved over next to Bill so that both of them could read the message.
Potter:
Congratulations on finding the clue we left for you. We are sure that even you incompetents at the Ministry have figured out by now that it was us who stole the vials. You are probably scratching your heads with your thumbs up your arses wondering why. We will make it easy for you. Come alone and without your wand to the location described underneath the message tomorrow evening at eight o'clock. We have a message for you to deliver, and you may just learn something.
Death Eaters
The place where you and the Muggle pig murdered Bella and Severus.
Harry and Bill finished reading at about the same time. Heavy feelings came over Harry as he finished reading, he had thought he had put the past behind him when he had killed Voldemort. Both he and Bill were concerned that Sean was going to be brought back into the game, they both thought that he deserved a life of peace after his lifetime in the monastery and then hunting and destroying vampires.
"They're baiting you," Bill said.
"I know," Harry answered, "but they won't kill me. And it's a chance for me to find out what they're planning with all of this."
Bill nodded, he realized that this was the only course of action they could take that would lead anywhere. Both of them knew that what lay ahead was uncertain. But one thing was certain, the Dark Lords forces had regrouped—and they were on the rise once again.
Author's note: I appreciate reviews, especially since I am doing this one a chapter at a time. Also, if anyone wants to do any fanart from this story or "Harry Potter and the Order of St. George" you have my permission as long as you either e-mail me a copy (in bitmap format) or direct me to the URL. Also, it may be of interest to know that in subsequent chapters, we learn more about the History of the Order of St. George.