Translation from the brilliant story by Magouille (u/6361619/): Vlad Kemenov ou la vengeance des Potter (/s/10938133/)
Neither Harry Potter nor this story are mine.
Chapter 2: The Kemonovs
Somewhere in Bulgaria—July 1991
"No, please, I have nothing to do with it, it's Yuri, it's Yuri that…»
"Shut up!"
The cold voice snapped and the kneeling man trembled even more. The man—very large, a perfect blend of fat and muscles—mechanically reached down for his pocket and gasped hen he found out it was empty.
"Is that what you are looking for, Gregorovitch?"
The voice—young—made the shaking man turn his head to look at a small figure—a child—move into the flickering light of a candle. Gregorovitch gulped when he caught the hypnotic green eyes of the boy. His face was void of any emotion, cold like the Arctic, as terrifying as the disdain he had in his eyes. He was flippantly swirling a slim pale wand in his hands.
"You know, I received a letter from Hogwarts this morning. I should have bought my wand in your shop, but Katya chose to burn it down."
An astonished hiccup gushed out of Gregorovitch's throat, followed by harrowing sobs when he realised what the cruel words of the child meant. Years of his work had just vanished in mere hours.
"You couldn't do that, you did not have any right to!" he wailed, his Slavic accent now much clearer.
"No right to? You owed the Mirage Court millions of galleons. Your shop belonged to us, as did your work. Now, for the last time: shut up!"
A spell hit him, and the man was silenced, no sound crossing his lips. He rolled panicked eyes for a few seconds, and then seemed to understand that he could not fight.
"As I said before being interrupted most impolitely," the child continued, "I should have bought my wand in your shop. You are said to be and excellent wandmaker, but I have chose to go to Ollivander's. Your best enemy seems to be more gifted for business than you are…"
The wandmaker gesticulated.
"I think he wants to talk…"
Another spell gushed from the darkness cloaking one of the attackers, and he could speak once more.
"Who… Who are you?"
"Oh… Haven't we been introduced?" the voice in the shadow mused. "I'm terribly sorry for our lack of courtesy."
The unknown person slowly moved into the flickering light, revealing a young thirty-year-old woman, with short, uncombed hair, and hazel eyes.
"I am Katya Kemenov, one of the leaders of the Mirage Court of Eastern Europe, and this is my nephew Vlad."
Igor Gregorovitch looked closely at both his torturers. Their faces seemed terribly familiar even though he had never met them. The family resemblance was blatant. Despite his long hair, the boy looked frighteningly like his aunt, physically, as well as in his attitude. Then his gaze turned to one of the scars of the boy. There, right in the middle of the forehead, a lightning bolt was standing out.
Hogwarts—some days later
Albus Dumbledore, director of one of the most prestigious schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Europe, seemed to want to dig a trench in his office, in the humble opinion of his friend and colleague, Professor Severus Snape.
Since last night, the famous man was panicked. He realised that the letters—plentiful according to Minerva—addressed to Harry Potter had never been responded to. Hagrid had to look for the family of the little snot Potter. Severus Snape grumbles, thinking the boy seemed of the same tribe as his father. Despicable.
Since then, they waited the return of the gamekeeper.
The Potion Master took his copy of the Daily Prophet, looking first at the author of the article before reading it, ignoring anything written by Rita Skeeter or Alan Gorgonay. He turned a few pages before reading the international section and quaked at the title.
The famous Bulgarian wandmaker found dead!
Igor Gregorovitch, main wand provider for Magical Eastern Europe has been found dead in the forecourt of the Gringott's bank of Predka Street in Minsk in a grim staging, after his shop was burned down two days before.
Victim of the Mirage Court! p.1
A secret man, the story of Igor Gregorovitch. p.3
Tribute to Igor Gregorovitch by Garrick Ollivander. p.7
Professor Severus Snape frowned at the mention of the Mirage Court. Gregorovitch was not that smart if he had business with the magical world's mafia. For that matter, it had been years since the Mirage Court had not been in any article of the Daily Prophet. Although it was not surprising, given the rag it had become.
He raised his head, observing a little while Albus, who was determined to dig his trench deeper, muttering without looking at him. Severus shrugged and resumed his reading.
Victim of the Mirage Court!
Last morning, the first shopkeepers squeezing I the Predka Street in Minsk could see a sinister display in front of Gringott's. Hanged to the entrance of the bank, with bare chest, and wearing the infamous mark of the Court, carved directly on his skin, Igor Gregorovitch was found dead, mouth full of galleons, and his hands cut off.
Severus looked at the photograph, strangely still, for once. It showed the hanged man, and he shivered when he recognised the symbol. A dagger crossing a wand. Underneath the bloody tattoo, he saw another one, this time with ink, making him snort. Igor Gregorovitch once belonged to the Ukrainian branch of the magical mafia. He continued to read, fulminating against the thoughtless people.
A highly symbolic death, as always when it comes to the Mirage Court. Igor Gregorovitch probably was a former member of the Mirazh, the Ukrainian Court, who seem to want to make and example for their partners and enemies. The sudden exile to Bulgaria in the 1950's of the wandmaker now makes more sense.
One has to note the meticulousness of the staging? Everything is linked and «justifies» the execution by the Court. The money in the mouth and the place—Gringott's—tell that this dark matter is about money debt. The cut-off hands is an ancient punishment for thieves, as for the hanging, it is no less than the traditional sentence for treason. Gregorovitch would be for the mafia a traitor and a thief.
Furthermore, it is important to note that Gregorovitch's shop was burned down by arson, which destroyed everything (see our 30 July article) after the owner mysteriously vanished.
The Bulgarian aurors, under the leadership of…
Severus stopped reading when someone knocked at the door of the Director's office. Albus hurried to let them in and the Potion Professor gritted his teeth when he saw the giant looked shattered as he entered the room.
"Hagrid, reassure me, my friend," said the Director with a friendly smile, a friendly old man mask stuck on his face
"I'm s'rry Sir, but the Dursleys deny having ever seen their nephew. I… took the freedom to check… Harry Potter nev'r liv'd in their house."
Albus Dumbledore's mask shattered as he took his head in his hands, suddenly weary.
Harry Potter had vanished.