Chapter 4 – A Wizard at Work
The next week Harry returned to an office in full flurry. The surveillance on Cedrella had been logging a lot of visitors and activity. Dean had spent a good part of the weekend taking notes to prepare for a meeting on Monday morning. The entire department was called together, minus foreign operatives who were in the field. As the on-call Auror for the weekend, Dean started the meeting.
"As many of you know, a recent interrogation led us to Cedrella Macnair. She was on our list of non-active Death Eater relatives. This weekend Cedrella had a total of nineteen visitors, with eleven arriving Saturday night around eight in the evening. While Cedrella may have been having a party, it is interesting that her 'guest list' are all persons on our current watch list. Also, the 'party' lasted a bit less than two hours. Finally, the cottage itself is well shielded up to the point of the stone wall around it, but outside of the wall the wards drop. This is the point that we have placed the surveillance at. Everyone entering and leaving seemed very cautious, with only a few general greetings. The one exception was when Eva Jugson, daughter of Royce Jugson, who was killed in the Battle of Hogwarts, left. Surveillance shows Eva was distraught and left before anyone else. Cedrella ran after her and stopped her outside the gate. What Cedrella said was 'Remember sister. Remember your promise. Remember the calling.' Then Cedrella returned to the cottage and the rest of the party broke up about ten minutes later."
As Dean finished his surveillance summary, the volume in the room gradually increased as multiple conversations diverged on different elements of his report. Finally, Davis Proudfoot, the director of the Auror department, stood up and called the room to order.
"Ok, everyone, let's break this down and take each piece and analyze it. First, Dean will be distributing a list of everyone who visited Cedrella, with the 'party list' highlighted at the bottom. Next, we need to look deeper into Cedrella's ties to her uncle. I want to know everything we can find about her for the last five years. Finally, I want all possible ties between her and Eva and all possible ties between their families investigated as far back as possible. I have already divided the duties and each of you will be assigned to a team that will be listed on top of the informational bulletins you are about to receive. From this point on, this will be our primary focus. Williamson will be taking our three junior Aurors and tracking any new developments separate of Cedrella. He has authority to pull any of you in on leads they may find."
As Proudfoot spoke, Dean finished passing out the bulletins and Proudfoot finished with one last statement.
"Now, everyone, let's get to work. Cedrella may just have bad taste in party guests, but I doubt it. Dismissed."
Harry looked at the bulletin he received and found that he, Hestia and Eldritch James were teamed to research links between the Jugson and MacNair families. Harry pulled the three of them into his cubicle for a brainstorming. Eldritch was fine and offered some good ideas, but Hestia just nodded and waited for an assignment. Harry shook his head once again. After the war the department had been desperate to fill vacancies, but why anyone had hired Hestia was still a mystery. Harry ended up taking the lead. He took the Jugsons and Eldritch took the MacNairs. Then he assigned Hestia the task of dropping by Eva's house to question her about Cyrus and see if there were any links between the two of them. Before Harry sent her off, he spoke to Williamson who allowed them to 'borrow' Dean as an escort to go with Hestia. Harry didn't expect trouble, but he knew it was better to be prepared.
Harry and Eldritch spent the next couple of days buried in old documents, confiscated correspondence and surrendered memory records. They were compiling a history of each of the families and then would begin to link them if possible. Hestia had been to visit Eva, but hadn't come back with much. Eva knew of Cyrus, but claimed no personal acquaintanceship. Hestia then spent an hour over tea discussing a variety of topics to get a general feeling of Eva's loyalties. When she returned, her conclusion was that Eva was definitely into something and didn't seem happy about it. Unfortunately, she credited this mainly to 'intuition', which didn't go far with Proudfoot. Harry though had two wives and knew better than to discount a woman's 'intuition'.
By the end of the week, the three of them met to match up notes. Two hours later a general picture emerged. MacNair and Jugson senior were only a year apart in age. Both families were very old pure bloods. The ancestral homes of each were not near each other, but the families were both known to spend summers near Brighton. MacNair had attended Hogwarts for a bit over two years, but had been expelled after using the Imperius curse at the tender age of thirteen. His age and family connections kept him out of prison and the troublesome teenager disappeared for a few years. Jugson had never attended Hogwarts and his family listed him as home educated. They also travelled a fair bit. Much of both their teenage years were a mystery until Harry acted on a hunch and called in a favor.
On Wednesday morning, Harry placed a floo call to the Bulgarian Quidditch headquarters and asked to speak to Viktor Krum. He had not expected to reach him immediately, but the entire team was in for new uniform fittings and Viktor stopped to talk to Harry. Unfortunately, neither was at a private location so they arranged to speak that evening when Viktor would floo call Harry at home. Harry hurried home that evening and apologized to Ginny and Luna as he locked himself in the living room before dinner and waited for the call. They were a bit surprised, but it was all part of being married to an Auror. Viktor's call came through promptly at six Harry's time and he immediately detailed what he was looking for.
"Hi Viktor, thanks for calling me back here. I need to talk, but this is official Auror business and I have to keep this private."
Viktor nodded and Harry continued.
"I am working on some research and need to know if you have any way of accessing Durmstrang student records?"
Viktor thought for a minute before replying.
"I might Harry. Vat it will take me a few days at leest to check. "
"Of course Viktor. I appreciate any help. Specifically, I am interested in any records or other details pertaining to Walden MacNair or Royce Jugson. I can't say much, but I think you are probably aware that we are actively pursuing a recent upswing in violence against muggles."
"Yes, I read vor paper. I will pursue at vunce. It will be good to call here each evening?"
"Yes, that will work fine. Thanks a lot Viktor."
With that, Harry said goodbye and closed the floo connection.
Thursday evening found Harry sequestered back in the living room waiting for a call. He didn't expect much yet, but wanted to be ready if Viktor did call. Promptly at six, the fire began to spin and Viktor appeared.
"Hullo Harry. I theenk I have what you need. It vas not easy, but I am Quidditch champion. I also have many girlfriends. Vun girlfriend was able to obtain ze records. I have them here in theez folder."
As he said this, Viktor's hand extended from the flames and Harry took the folder.
"Now, Harry I must go. It is time to repay zis favor to a very preety little weetch. Goodbye."
With the floo disconnected, Harry sat down to review the thin folder. Of course, anything larger wouldn't have been able to come through a basic non-transport floo connection. The folder only had a few documents inside and they were in Bulgarian. Harry groaned. He knew a few basic translate spells, but none for Bulgarian. It looked like his work was done for the night.
The next morning, Harry stopped at the International Committee for Magical Cooperation and inquired on a translator for Bulgarian. He had to wait for a tiny grey haired witch to arrive a half hour later, but Sofia was more than happy to assist the handsome Mr. Potter. She incanted over each document briefly and Harry watched as the words swam together and then gradually resolved to English. He thanked her, provided an autograph, and headed to his office to review the information before he met with Eldritch and Hestia.
As Harry read the brief documents, he smiled to himself. His hunch was correct. Two months after MacNair's expulsion, he had arrived at Durmstrang. Jugson was a year older and had already been at the school for three years. The records included a number of disciplinary incidents that read like a dark magic version of the exploits of Sirius Black and James Potter. It was quite obvious to Harry that the two students had become fast friends. Then, in Jugson's last year, a surprising notation appeared on MacNair's record. It seemed that the two friends had a major duel that was witnessed by several people, including a professor. MacNair was caught using the Cruciatus curse on his best friend and his punishment was to then have the curse turned on him by the professor. Harry shook his head, Durmstrang was definitely a world away from Hogwarts.
Also in the notes, a witness to the offense was listed, one Alexandra Vladinova. That name seemed familiar, so Harry flipped back through the papers and found Alexandra Vladinova listed as an accomplice on an offense with MacNair two years previous. The details of the offense were 'being found off grounds without permission'. That was curiously suspicious and Harry began to diagram the information he had so far. Finally, he turned to the last page and found a brief student record for Alexandra. She was Jugson's age and a fair student with few disciplinary offenses. Her worst was the out of bounds incident. She had left the school at the end of her fifth year to attend to a family emergency, but had returned to finish up her final year and graduate in the same class with Jugson a month after the two former friends dueled. Harry completed his diagram minutes before his meeting with Hestia and Eldritch and then left for their conference. Harry briefed Eldritch and Hestia on what he had found. Then Hestia dropped a bombshell.
"Harry, when I had tea with Eva, she talked a bit about her family. She was especially close to her mother, who died eight years ago. Her mother's name was Alexandra."
"Well, that can't be a coincidence."
Eldritch spoke next.
"When I arrived this morning I spoke to the team investigating Cedrella's past. I have a few notes from them, although it's not much yet. The first question was how close she actually was to Uncle Wally. Initial indications are that they were quite close, based on confiscated correspondence. Cedrella's father was Walden's older brother, older by nine years. And here's something else interesting, Cedrella is actually adopted. The only information we have is that she was a 'souvenir' that arrived home with her parents after a four month honeymoon tour of Europe. She is their only child. Here are copies of the notes from the other team."
Harry took his copy and began to ponder something.
"Thanks Eldritch. I'll make copies of what I have and let you pass those back to the other team since you are already working with them. I think we are getting a good trace on things, but let's keep digging and see what comes up. I am going to try to correlate my notes with the new ones you just gave us. "
With that said, the meeting broke off and Harry went back to his desk, so deep in thought that he actually sat down at Williamson's desk first and then realized his mistake. Harry moved over to his own desk and laid the notes side by side. Then he took a piece of paper to do another diagram. Harry had to admit that at times paperwork was annoying, but it also was a vital part of the investigative process. A younger Harry had dreamed that being an Auror would be a life of constant excitement and battle. In reality, it was a lot of tedious work leading up to brief periods of excitement. Twenty minutes later, Harry had something interesting in the timeline connecting his notes. Alexandra Vladinova left school for a year shortly before her fifth year was complete. Durmstrang was in Bulgaria, but Alexandra was Russian, which is where she presumably went home to. MacNair's brother and sister-in-law returned from their honeymoon a month before Alexandra returned to Durmstrang. Their last stop on the honeymoon tour was Russia and they arrived home with a newly adopted five month old baby Cedrella. Harry had a suspicion, but he needed a contact in Russia and had no idea who might be available, so he decided to check with Davis.
Harry walked across the department, stopped at his boss' door and knocked. He had never come unannounced before and hoped he wasn't intruding. A minute later, the door swung open and Davis gestured in him.
"Hello Potter, have a seat, what's up?"
Harry sat and began to explain what he needed.
"Hello sir, our team has been working on background information for Jugson and MacNair. We have discovered that they attended Durmstrang together."
Harry was about to proceed when Davis Proudfoot jumped in.
"Ah, then that would explain your floo connection to Bulgaria I assume?"
"Yes sir, I am acquainted with Viktor Krum and he was helpful in obtaining the student records. I of course was careful not to mention details."
"Yes, I'm sure you were. You are probably our brightest young Auror, not that it comes as a surprise given your history. I've been keeping track of your investigative team and glad to see you take the initiative with Eldritch and Hestia. Eldritch is smart enough, but a bit cautious at times and Hestia, well let's just say it was my predecessor that hired her. So, now, what did you find out about the two Death Eaters at Durmstrang?"
"Well, records show that they appear to have been good friends until their final year when something happen that caused a monumental duel. But there is another student mentioned in the records by the name of Alexandra Vladinova and it is because of her I am here."
Davis leaned slightly forward and waited for Harry to continue.
"Well, Alexandra seems to have left school for about a year, but returned for her final year and was present at the duel. What we need to find out is where she was during the time of almost a full year when she was out of school. I should also mention, that Hestia discovered during her tea with Eva Jugson that Eva's mother's name was Alexandra. We don't think that's a coincidence. So, what brings me here is that I need a source in Russia who can do some digging for us. Do you know of anyone?"
Davis Proudfoot let out a long, low breath.
"Hmm, very interesting. You have definitely been busy. And we do have a contact that might help. She is the sister of an Unspeakable who works downstairs. She married a Russian bureaucrat and has been living in country for close to twenty years. We have had occasion in the past to ask for her assistance. I'll call and see if she's interested. If so, you can use the floo in my office to meet with her. The floo here is probably better than using your own."
Harry realized what Davis was referring to and interjected.
"Sir, I was very cautious on the floo call to Krum. I set up all necessary wards and precautions and even shut my wives out of the room."
"Not to worry, I'm sure you were careful, but in the future please feel free to use the floo here."
Then he chuckled.
"Shut your wives out of the room huh? How did they take that? I have to admit, I admire you. I can't seem to keep one wife happy. Anyway, I'll make the contact to Russia and let you know when a call has been arranged."
With that, Harry realized he was being dismissed and left the room.
As Harry was preparing to leave at the end of the day, he noticed Davis at his office door gesturing to him. Setting down his papers, Harry made his way over.
"Come in Potter, quickly."
Harry stepped into the office and saw a woman's face in Davis' fire. She appeared to be middle age, maybe older, and was draped in quite a few necklaces. Davis pulled Harry to the fire and began introductions.
" , this is Liza Makovich. Liza, may I introduce Harry Potter."
The witch in the fire smiled.
"Now Davis, do you honestly think I do not recognize who I am looking at? Hello Mr. Potter, it is a pleasure. Davis has given me very few details on what you need, but I understand that you are looking for information on an individual?"
"Yes, Mrs. Makovich. I am looking for details on a witch named Alexandra Vladinova. She attended Durmstrang, but left late in her fifth year due to family reasons and then returned just before the start of her final year. What we are looking for is information on that missing year of Alexandra's life. We also don't know much about her family, so any information would be helpful."
Liza Makovich regarded the handsome young Auror.
"I understand Mr. Potter. Let me see what I can dig up and I'll call back on the floo next Monday at eight in the morning your time."
With that decided, everyone said their goodbyes and the floo fire quieted.
