Chapter Seven – The Problem with Slytherin Wives

As we went down for breakfast, a little earlier than might be expected, we were met by a teary-eyed Erin waiting for us at the Gryffindor table.

Harry gave her the information she wanted. "The Minister contacted me {why does she need to know that we use cell phones} and informed me that Silas was captured at the Ministry last night. He was being questioned by the aurors at the time the message was sent to me."

"I do want to see him," Erin replied.

"I'll see what I can arrange," Harry promised.

As Erin left, the Malfoys dropped over and said that they very much wanted to speak to Pansy. Harry gave them the same reply that he had given Erin.

The owls arrived with our papers and I saw that Ernie had scooped the Quibbler about the attack.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC SEALED WHILE AURORS SEARCH FOR ATTEMPTED ASSASSIN OF DEPUTY MINISTER POTTER

Lucius Malfoy Killed In Plot on Deputy Minister

Ernie's article was accurate, if sparse on detail. He had no mention of Pansy or Silas, and also did not say anything about the kidnapping and attempted murder of Hermione. Still, it was a plus for Ernie's career to have both a scoop and a return to the front page banner headline.

Xenophilius was focused on the restoration of the Gringotts magical circle. It was quite clear that he must have received much of his information from Luna.

Progress and Unexpected Snags in Repairing Gringotts Circle

Londoners -Magic Will Be In Short Supply for a While

Harry ducked out of the Great Hall to phone Dad and Shacklebolt to find out if there was any updated news and to see when Pansy and Silas would be allowed visitors. Since I had stayed at the table, talking to Mom and Neville, Draco kept looking our way, seeming to know what Harry was doing. Harry returned and, seeing Draco watching him, waved him back to our table. "Since you are Pansy's closest family, you will be able to visit her at 11:00 A.M. You probably want to see her right at that time, because her mother will be permitted to visit first thing in the afternoon. You may bring a lawyer with you, if you wish. The day porter has been instructed to take you to Shacklebolt's office and his assistant will take you down to Pansy. Narcissa will not be permitted to visit today. Tomorrow is a possibility."

Harry then walked over to Erin's table, telling her that she would be permitted to visit Silas at noon. Harry offered to apparate her to the Ministry and she accepted the offer.

Harry came back to the table to update the rest of us, saying there was no other news, apart from Silas's admission that he received his instructions from Pansy's mother.

"That's a rather stunning admission, don't you think?" I challenged Harry for the nonchalant way he treated this news. "I mean, she has her own daughter receiving her instructions second hand from a one-year younger student. That doesn't convey a lot of faith in her daughter. Also, that is our first real evidence, non-judicial evidence I mean, that Pansy's mother is an active baddy, rather than just a political sympathizer."

"You're absolutely correct," Harry replied. "I guess I share your Dad's focus on having not caught Barty or Thicknesse. I was also focusing on Draco's obvious pain.

"As I think about things, this really doesn't seem like a Death Eater plot at all. It seems more a case of the remnants of Bruce's organization operating on their own. The Death Eater involvement in the Diagon Alley attacks and the attacks on Beauxbatons may have been just isolated Death Eaters reduced to being thugs for hire. I find that a little encouraging. I know it doesn't bring us any closer to Thicknesse, but it makes it seem less likely that we're still opposed by a grand evil conspiracy. I want to leave for the Ministry almost right away. I promised we'd apparate Erin. We should stop by McGonagall before we go."

"Don't underestimate the importance of last night, even apart from rescuing me from electrocution. We know Barty and Thicknesse are out there fighting to destroy us. I think it is more important to have uncovered the truth about the Parkinsons. Pansy was a secret enemy whom we allowed to be all to close to us. We are all alive, because she didn't consider us worth killing. Catching Silas is a huge win. He would have become a very damaging mole. I don't agree at all that this obviously wasn't a Death Eater plot. Or perhaps the Death Eaters are no longer the biggest threat. Some major opponent, Mister Big is as good a name as any, groomed Silas for a key role as mole and considered him worth burning for this attack. This also tells us just how long a war somebody plans to wage against us. This was a very big win. I'm very glad and very lucky to still be alive."

Ron grabbed Hermione and clasped her to his chest. I thought I heard a few sobs coming from his shoulder. Ron held Hermione long enough for her to fully recover and to wipe her eyes against his robes.

We walked up to the staff table. Narcissa and Trelawney were flanking McGonagall, so Harry spoke to all three of them. He told them that Draco and Erin would be visiting their loved ones this morning, but Narcissa would have to wait at least a day. Harry said we and Erin were leaving for the Ministry right away. McGonagall thanked Harry and we were off.

{{I noticed you didn't mention what we learned about Pansy's mother.}}

{I'm not sure I want Narcissa knowing that just yet. Since we're taking Erin with us, I think it best to apparate from outside the gate.}

Barb apparated Erin, while the rest of us traveled on our own locomotion. We walked with Erin to Shacklebolt's office, telling his assistant that Erin needed to sign in to visit Silas later in the morning. She gave Erin a short form to fill out and then excused herself to duck into Shacklebolt's office. Shacklebolt emerged with her a minute later. He told Erin that although Silas could have a visitor a little later, that since she was at best a witness and at worst a suspected co-conspirator and not an actual relative of Silas, she couldn't visit with a possible co-defendant until she had been interviewed by the aurors.

"You may have a lawyer or a parent present during the interview and you can have the interview anytime in the next few days, but I can't give you the opportunity to make up a story with Silas, before you are interviewed."

"They can interview me at any time. I didn't do anything wrong. I don't think I need a lawyer."

"That's fine. If you change your mind, just tell your interviewer, and the interview will stop until your lawyer or parent can arrive. If you want to do it now, I'll assign Barb here as your interviewer. You can use my office, while I bring Harry up to date on the investigation. Then you can go and visit Silas."

Erin replied "that's what I want to do. I don't want my parents to know about this." Barb led her into the office and Shacklebolt guided us back to Harry's office.

Shacklebolt launched right into his summary. "Silas is very angry about his brother's death and convinced that Bruce would have been the best leader Wizards have had since Grindelwald was sent off to prison. I pointed out to him that his brother was killed by Bron. That didn't deflect his anger. He said my opposition to Bruce is what caused the problem.

"We learned that Silas has been strongly committed to the cause for several years. His whole family has. They are not a Death Eater-type aristocratic family feeling that the other Wizards haven't been giving them their rightful authority. They've been what counts as lower middle class, by Wizard standards, for several generations. They are what I call the 'Wizard pride' crowd. Their anger is directed at the Muggle-born, whom they see outstripping them economically, and Muggles, whom they see as holding their family and most Wizards back. Their anger is fueled by a sense of desperation and a feeling that the world has passed them by. We're lucky to have gotten Hermione back alive.

"Silas hated her. She is alive only because he thought it appropriate that she had to lie there stupefied for a few hours, wondering when someone would turn on the generator and electrocute her. Silas is too sheltered to realize how deluded he is. He seriously believes that had Bruce won the election, we'd be ruling the Muggles by now and he'd be in line as Governor of Kent or something similar. He kept telling me how he had made a point of training in magical engineering, so that he could be a leader of the rebuilding efforts, after the Muggles were subjugated. That's the word he kept using, or the phrase 'subjugated like the Elves'.

"When I asked him how so few Wizards would defeat so many Muggles with powerful military forces, it became clear that he had never encountered anything more fearful than an old Muggle with a shotgun and hunting dog or an unarmed Bobby with a whistle. He said 'we have magic and Bruce had a plan. Voldemort was stupid, but he showed how easy it is to frighten Muggles with magic'. I told him that the Muggles have weapons that could destroy an area as big as London in an instant, and that magical barriers, like those at Hogwarts and Diagon Alley, would just be blown away, like so many dandelion seeds. I don't think he believed me."

"That surprises me a little. He struck me as very intelligent and educated, with a broader view than Hogwarts provides," Harry responded.

"Broader is some ways, very narrow in others. He's soaked up some knowledge from the French Wizards, but Bruce's followers would have kept him isolated among their own gang, just stoking his grievances and narrowing his outlook. It's an old trick. He was being groomed to be a mole and that requires extreme dedication to the mission, but also skills and resources that your opponents will value and the ability to hide your feelings and mingle with your enemies. He was an easy mark. His brother blessed the Grindelwald gang and Silas idolized his brother.

"Based on what Silas told us, we've arrested Mrs. Parkinson. She's being interviewed now and her husband in under surveillance. We've already had complaints from opposition Gamots, claiming that the arrest of Mrs. Parkinson is political harassment. I don't think they know that we're holding Pansy. We can't keep that secret beyond this evening, however. Likely Draco will make a public issue of the arrest sooner than that. I don't know how your buddy Ernie found out about Malfoy's death so quickly."

"I didn't tell him. I did tell Narcissa, Draco, Erin, and Professor McGonagall. Erin had no way of getting a message out of Hogwarts that quickly, but McGonagall, and likely the others, have cell phones. I doubt the Malfoys would pick Ernie to talk to and Professor McGonagall had no reason to get the news out."

"Well, be that as it may, I'd prefer to have kept that news bottled up at least until this afternoon. It would have helped to have time to get an official press release prepared."

"Point taken," Harry responded.

"I'm not rebuking you," Shacklebolt hastened to add. "You told Arthur that you planned to inform the affected parties back at Hogwarts and he didn't object. It was his call, but I would have preferred his asking you to wait. I'd like to have as much information as possible before any of us have to answer pointed questions from the press or Wizengamot. I'm thankful that they're out of town and haven't been able to do more than send a few informal complaints and inquiries my way. We have a good case against Silas and Pansy, but I'm not even sure that Madam Bones thinks she has enough to hold Mrs. Parkinson for more than a day."

"Does it strike you as strange that Thicknesse and Barty, Jr. seem to have had no involvement in this plot, or really in much of anything that has happened since the Battle of Hogwarts?" asked Harry. "It struck me that Rowle was working more as a mercenary than acting under Death Eater orders. I could say the same about the Death Eaters at Beauxbatons. Lucius was involved here and the Death Eaters are after him, unless that's just pretend. The other thing that really surprised Ginny and me was that Mrs. Parkinson would pass not a message, but orders, from herself to her daughter by way of a younger student, in a way that permitted that younger student to boss around her daughter. Pansy seemed committed, but not exactly fully read in on the plot."

"That's a lot of different questions and observations. Let me start by saying that unlike the Minister, I am not at all surprised that Thicknesse hasn't attacked us yet. His forces got clobbered at Hogwarts. They're depleted, but more importantly they are no longer viewed as being so scary and invincible. We look pretty good right now. It's not just the defeat of Voldemort. Our side won at Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons, and we captured LeDoux, and LeDoux, Bruce, Hyack, and Ruppasta are all dead or exiled to some unknown place, from which they are unlikely to return.

"Meanwhile, you and Arthur have gotten some very impressive bills through the Wizengamot. There is hope among the younger Wizards of starting their own businesses. You stopped the Diagon Alley bombings very quickly. In short, we look competent, we're riding high, and we've got public support. Thicknesse is smart and practical. He knows he can't win now, but he also knows that eventually every administration will make a big mistake or confront a big problem that they can't fix fast enough to satisfy most Wizards. When that happens to us, expect Thicknesse to strike. He is quite capable of playing the long game.

"As for Malfoy, my sources say that most of the remaining Death Eaters wanted revenge on him. Certainly Rowle and Barty. I'm not so sure about Thicknesse. He would recognize Malfoy's value. In taking down Malfoy and the Montaignes, we've separated the opposition from much of the financial resources they needed to oppose us. I think you may be right that some of the Death Eaters have been forced to become mercenaries. Thicknesse has enough resources squirreled away to get by. Barty not as much, but probably still enough. The rest of them were dependent on handouts from the Malfoys. All those little errands that Lucius did for us moved a lot of illicit money off the table. The Death Eaters likely are starving for galleons.

"I've also wondered why Silas seems to outrank Pansy in Mrs. Parkinson's organization. One possible answer is that he also outranks Mrs. Parkinson, although our interviews suggest otherwise. Other possibilities, which I'm sure you've thought of, include Mrs. Parkinson viewing Pansy as stupid or insufficiently committed to the cause, fearing information would leak from Pansy to Draco to you-name-the-person, or that Mrs. Parkinson's boss insisted for whatever reason that Silas was in charge of the operation."

"Why did Lucius kill himself when I asked about Thicknesse?"

"Maybe he had met Thicknesse. Maybe he was afraid of who you'd inquire about next, which would point to an opponent other than the Death Eaters. It's all speculation.

"I agree that Malfoy's involvement in this plot is strange. It doesn't have the smell of Lucius's work and Silas's action with Hermione and the generator shows more initiative than most Death Eater foot soldiers are allowed. We hadn't linked Malfoy with Bruce's crowd, but I suppose he could have formed some new recent alliances, as he tries to reestablish his wealth and power. Both Malfoy parents seem to go crazy where Draco is involved, so it could be that simple."

Callista, Harry's assistant, told us that Barb and Erin had returned. Shacklebolt turned to Bill, saying "If you would send in Barb and take over the babysitting duty…"

A moment later, Barb was summarizing her interview with Erin. "I'm convinced she is an innocent dupe and not as smart as Harry first thought. Silas really did give her about a dozen riffs to regurgitate. At one point yesterday, she says he actually held up three fingers, to tell her to give riff number three. Her understanding of magical engineering is what you would expect from a middling student with a little over a month studying under Professor Henkel, along with some reading before start of term. She's not Hermione. Maybe more than a middling student, simply because her boyfriend told her to focus on this one course. She even let me give her Veritaserum and stuck to the exact same story. She was just helping Silas to position himself for the job of his dreams. She had nothing against Harry. She wasn't more than momentarily a little upset with Ginny and Hermione. She still can't believe that Silas had any bad intent and wants to talk to him right away."

"Okay, send Bill back in, and escort Erin to Silas. I don't want a long meeting. Tell her she has ten minutes."

"Is it alright if we take Erin back to Gringotts to work on the repair team, after she's seen Silas?" Harry asked.

"I don't see why not. We'll know where to find her if we need her. In the meantime, maybe you'll be able to coax some more details out of her."

"I don't mean to sound disloyal," I ventured, "but my brother suggested that Dad might be too gentle to be Minister of Magic. I know you think he was too concerned about making sure that Draco and Erin heard the bad news sympathetically, but I have to ask you that question: is Dad too gentle?"

"I couldn't say so, even if he was. That would be very disloyal and the Director of the Auror Department owes absolute loyalty, unless the Minister is pushing a grossly illegal plan. But no, I can honestly say that your father is exactly what we need as Minister. Your brother has picked up an opposition slogan and you would all be best served not to repeat it. When a new government takes over in as big a switch as from Voldemort to us, it needs to earn the support of the people. To do that it must provide both safety and the change it promised. Harry and I are exactly what Arthur needs to provide the safety.

"The inkling of truth in Ron's comment is that Arthur would have failed by now without Harry and me. But Arthur is the essential man. He's known to be honest and sincere, so he's trusted enough to buy us some time to make things right. He was a student of the Ministry and knows its ins and outs every bit as well as Percy. He knows far more Ministry employees than I ever did and he's been sidelining the incompetent and the venal and elevating the honest, energetic employees who want to work hard and make things better. I was essential to weeding out the Voldemort supporters, but in the end, the awful employees will hurt us just as badly.

"One of the reasons we have so much support is that the average Wizard sees that Harry and Arthur are succeeding in making things better. I'm not as far from the positions of Arthur, McGonagall, and Harry as you think. I am fully aware that we ultimately succeed or fail based on whether or not the majority of Wizards see their lives improving and their children with a better future. I realize that we can't succeed against a huge pile of enemies and ill-wishers. Every Draco, Narcissa, or Cissy that we convert to our cause is a great plus. In some important circles, they carry more weight in selling our ideas than we do.

"Where Arthur and I differ is that I know that if we don't establish a sense of safety, then nothing else matters. I'm just a little more risk averse than the rest of you, until I think order has been fully restored. I'm very pleased with the way things are going, but I'll feel far better with Thicknesse and young Barty in hand."

"Dumbledore left a final note for all of us, as you know," I commented. "He told Harry that if we failed to kill Voldemort, but survived the fight, that we should flee to America and await a better time to resume the fight. Do you think that is what Thicknesse has done?"

"I'd guess America, Eire, or Australia. I think we'd have at least some sightings of him if he were still in Britain. We know he chased Hermione's parents to Australia, so he could be there. He will want to regroup and steal a lot of money from the Muggles to support his cause. I think the number of British Wizards with the stomach for another Voldemort war is very small, but he'll find naïve communities of other Wizards in other lands. That's what I would do, if I were him. We will have to search those areas for him, and I have some spies working on that, but for now we have to keep our efforts focused on Britain and Eire. On the latter, your circle really should follow through on your plans to find Weasley Castle and scout out Eire. The Ministry is nominally in charge of Eire and nearly five thousand Wizards live there, but we really don't have that much influence. I'm sure you've noticed that there aren't a lot of kids at Hogwarts who come from Eire. I think Cotto can help you a lot in your explorations. He spent a good deal of time there and I know there are close to a hundred Elves still living there."

We were interrupted by the return of Barb. "There is a very tearful Erin in your reception room," she told us. "We were a little late getting back in order to give Erin time to try to compose herself. I didn't let the meeting go longer than you asked; in fact it was over in about five minutes. Apparently she asked Silas to confirm that their farce of yesterday wasn't just a trick to lure Harry to a remote spot, where he could be attacked, that it really was about finding Silas a job. Apparently Silas said first things first, that he had a message that she must memorize and take to his parents.

"He said memorization always worked better than thinking with her, so they had best spend all their time making sure she got it straight. He repeated to her three times, making her repeat back the same words: 'mission failed, announcement in place, package still where Tom taught me to apparate, the banker taught me to stay quiet'. After the third time, Erin grew frustrated and pushed him for answers. He replied: 'I'd never want to work for the Ministry with Arthur Weasley in charge. He accepts our subservience to the Muggles'. She said she couldn't believe he had actually tried to murder Hermione. He apparently replied: 'I wanted to knock away some of the superiority of that arrogant Mudblood. I knew you were stupid, but I just didn't realize just how stupid you really are. It was so easy to convince you to play your role in my plot and to string you along. It's best if you let me do the thinking for both of us. We can still have a future together, but for now the best thing you can do is take that message to my parents.' Erin says she needs to talk to Harry."

"Fine, I'll leave her to Harry and Ginny," agreed Shacklebolt. "I need to get Madam Bones to figure out how we can prevent Silas from speaking to anyone else before I find out where Tom taught him to apparate and what the package is. I have a bad feeling that the 'announcement' may be another bomb. I'll organize another search and I'm going to try to get Madam Bones' permission to use Veritaserum on Silas. This seems a valid case of imminent threat. Perhaps Harry can coax some information from Erin. Don't rush off to your repairs. I want Erin here, in case I need her to testify to Madam Bones."

Shacklebolt got up and left. Harry invited Erin to join us in his office. As soon as Harry closed the door, Erin threw herself against him, sobbing into his shoulder. "I fear that Silas never loved me. He just thought I was a silly, stupid girl that he could use for his plots. I feel so foolish. What am I going to do?"

I wasn't happy leaving Miss Jiggly Boobs hanging all over my husband, but I had just had a nasty thought and went racing after Shacklebolt. "Go stay with Harry", I shouted at Callista as I raced past her, charging after Shacklebolt so swiftly, and I guess noticeably, that he swung around with his wand pointing towards me as I neared him. I dove head first to the side, to avoid either running over him or getting myself killed. I could tell that I had hit the granite hard and was going to be feeling it for days.

"What is it, Ginny? I could easily have killed you!"

I took a few seconds to draw enough breath to be able to semi-speak and then said, "Silas is going to kill himself, like Lucius did." I had spoken in such a debilitated fashion that Shacklebolt paused for a few seconds, not comprehending, until I repeated "Silas is going to kill himself…"

Shacklebolt was off like a shot, not even lingering to help me up from the floor. For a young athlete, standing was surprisingly slow and painful. I had to roll, get up on hands and knees, then brace against the wall and push up with my hands to get upright. I walked slowly back to Harry's office, noticing from the wetness on my mouth that my nose was bleeding. Harry looked shocked as he saw me, releasing Erin to steer me into a chair. He sent his assistant to summon a healer and used his robes to wipe my face, kissing the top of my head. Seeing my bloody face seemed to be the impetus Erin needed to finish pulling herself together. She sat down in a guest chair, wiping her face with her tee. She was at least wearing her bra today.

Harry asked what had happened to me. I told him that I had realized that Silas was telling Erin that he was going to kill himself, as Lucius had. As I paused for a breath, my nose still not working terribly well, Harry responded "and that realization destroyed your nose?"

I had finished the story by the time the healer arrived. There appeared to be barely enough integrity of the magic for him to do his work. Harry slipped his Keeper ring onto the healer's wand and I was soon approaching as good as new. The healer treated cuts and bruises on both knees, an injured elbow, and abrasions on my stomach. Erin wasn't the only student with an attractive midriff to show off, although mine was the appropriate pearly white hue of the beautiful young Witch. Harry and I thanked the healer and he was about to bid us farewell, when he decided that Erin might also need some attention. My statement that Silas would kill himself had produced further weeping.

Shacklebolt showed up, while the healer was still examining Erin. "I accused you of recklessly sprinting after me, but the fact is you were less than a minute slow. I just barely failed to prevent Silas from killing himself. I'm going to speak to Madam Bones about her overzealous interference with my duties. If she hadn't prevented me from using Veritaserum last night, we'd know a lot more from Silas."

We left a grumbling Shacklebolt to make our way back to the Gringotts Cavern, where another day of hard work awaited us. As I stowed the bags with some spare clothes, water, and lunch in the corner of the room and was shoving them further against the wall, while turning to hear what Harry was saying, I felt something furred attacking my arm. The first thought of my idling mind was 'rat!' and I lashed out with my arm, hurling the creature into the air. I turned to see a very indignant Cruikshanks landing awkwardly on three paws. Before I knew it, Hermione was approaching, cooing 'poor Cruikshanks' and picking him up and cuddling him against her chest. Seconds later, Ron appeared at our side, giving a hands wide shoulder shrug.

As Hermione carried Cruikshanks to a bench Ron explained, "She's been in a terrible state since you left us last night. We got to our room and she started weeping inconsolably. I tried to comfort her, but she kept crying.

"She said 'I just had to lie there, paralyzed, waiting to die. I couldn't bear to be electrocuted. I was so helpless. He said such hateful things when he dumped me there. I didn't realize anyone still hated me that much. Awful.' After an hour, I told her I wanted to help her, but couldn't think of what else to say or do. She said she needed to see her mother, so we apparated back to Gryffindor. We were walking through the common room, when she decided she wanted Cruikshanks. The three of us sat on the sofa for an hour, with Cruikshanks on Hermione's lap, my arm around her shoulder, and Hermione just quietly sobbing. Then we went to her parents' apartment, and Hermione talked to her Mom in the bedroom for an hour, while her father made coffee for me and I explained the past days.

"Hermione seemed a little better, when she came out of the bedroom, so we went to your office and tried to sleep on the couch. I was cuddling Hermione on one side and Cruikshanks was on top of her. She did more whimpering than sleeping and I didn't sleep at all.

"In the morning, Hermione said we had a job to do and that I had to apparate back to Gringotts, but that she had to have Cruikshanks with her. She didn't even let us stop for breakfast. I don't think she's eaten since we had lunch together, yesterday."

"That we can fix," I told my brother, grabbing my lunch bag and joining Hermione on the bench. "I'm sorry that I tossed Cruikshanks," I told her as I sat down. "I thought he was a rat and that frightened me." Hermione mumbled that it was alright, so I told her, "I've brought food. You really need to eat something. You're in no condition to be working today."

Between expressions of how bad she felt and how embarrassed she was, Hermione ate everything in my bag. I told her that her reaction was perfectly natural and that she needed to give herself time to recover from her ordeal. With a lot of persuading, she finally agreed that she and Ron should go back to Hogwarts, with Cruikshanks. I gave her the key to our apartment, even though I'm allergic to cat hairs.

Harry and Ron joined us, both patting Hermione on the back and shoulder and telling her she needed to relax and rest, rather than working today. Harry persuaded Bill to accompany Ron and Hermione. Hermione was still clutching Cruikshanks fiercely as Ron led her out of the Cavern. She passed a confused and embarrassed Erin on the way out, yelling 'bitch!' in passing. This produced additional tears from Erin.

Harry called for attention and addressed the group, explaining the reasons for the morning's excitement. The group was shocked to hear that Silas was dead and Hermione had been kidnapped and nearly murdered. He said Pansy had been part of the conspiracy and was in jail. This caused a lot of murmuring among the students, but the Goblins took this in stride. Their little ears perked up when Harry mentioned that Silas may have secreted a bomb in the Cavern. Harry concluded by suggesting that this might not be the best day to work and that the students might want to spend the day in Diagon Alley, while the Cavern and reception hall were inspected for bombs.

When Harry finished addressing the group and turned back to us Erin sobbed, 'I had no idea what Silas was planning to do. I was angry at Hermione for like five seconds - I never wanted anything bad to happen to her. I never even told Silas that I had been angry at her. I know I seem selfish being all concerned that this murderer didn't really love me, while your friend was terrified and almost killed. I can't help feeling bad about Silas, even though part of me is starting to hate him. I know you must all hate me."

"You only saw part of Silas and it's natural for you to grieve for the loss of a boyfriend whom you saw as good and loving," I told her. "Knowledge that he had a really bad side and was just using you doesn't change the emotional impact of what you've experienced. You shouldn't feel bad about how you reacted. We don't hate you and I'm sure Hermione doesn't either."

Harry went off to talk to Goblex, returning a minute later with the remaining Wizards. "Goblex is going to lead the search for the bomb", Harry told us. "We'll all come back tomorrow. Professor Henkel is going to supervise the students in Diagon Alley. I think we'll take Erin to that tea house near your brother's shop."

Cissy joined us and the four of us settled into a table beside the front window of the nearly empty shop. It was mid-morning, but that didn't fully explain the lack of business. Diagon Alley had not fully recovered from the bombings and the Prophet's report of trouble at the Ministry likely spooked potential customers. Harry ordered what the menu described as 'the richest, creamiest, cocoa, you've ever tasted' and three chocolate chip cookies. Cissy asked for Earl Grey tea and a buttered raisin scone. I selected a large dark chocolate-topped éclair and the cocoa. It looked like Erin didn't plan to order. "You should eat something," I instructed her "It will lift your spirits and energy."

"I didn't bring any money," she whispered to me.

"I did," Harry replied. "It's my treat."

Erin decided on the cocoa and a single chocolate chip cookie. As we settled back to wait for our snacks to arrive, Erin said earnestly, "please apologize to Hermione for me. I am truly sorry that I had anything at all to do with Silas hurting her. I would have warned you if I had any clue at all that he was planning anything nasty."

"I know you would have," Harry assured her. "I told you yesterday that we put Veritaserum in your milk. I apologize for doing that. It could certainly be viewed as an invasion of your privacy and possibly even illegal. My excuse is that it seemed both necessary to foil whatever you and Silas were plotting as well as the only way to prove your innocence in the plot. You are probably already aware of our questioning, if you think back closely to yesterday. We thought your request to meet Fenton in the Entry Hall, after the building had closed down, was very strange. Our protection aurors felt Silas was suspicious, especially when we found out that he was the brother of the auror who tried to murder Minister Shacklebolt. They did some checking and found that Silas was your boyfriend. That's why we slipped the Veritaserum into your milk, while you were working yesterday. You told us the whole story from your point of view. Do you remember telling us?"

"Not really. I remember rambling on as I ate and talked about myself. I remember feeling all fluttery and excited, but I don't have a clear memory of most of what I said. It's good that you know I didn't mean to harm any of you, but that really was a dirty and probably illegal trick you played on me. I forgive you. I don't know how I got myself involved in such a crazy plan. I knew it was a very strange way for Silas to get to talk to you, but he was so insistent, and I didn't want to disappoint him or make him angry with me. I also really just wanted him to have a good job, so that he could support me and the baby. I'm two months pregnant – you can't let McGonagall know who the father is. That has to be our secret. I'd like to at least stay in school until Christmas break. I know that I'll be huge by the time I'm supposed to graduate. I'm really not as stupid as Silas said I was. I do have two O.W.L.s to my credit. I just don't think quickly on my feet and I'm too trusting of people I care about, like Silas.

"I get flustered when I try to think around Silas – he picks on every little error and that just causes more errors. I'm going to need to be able to get a good job and I thought magical engineering was the answer. I just don't know what to do. I'm going to have to tell my parents over break. Do you think there's any way that I can graduate? It's going to be very bad if I don't. I don't see my father being supportive. He met Silas once and told me afterward 'that boy is a bum. He thinks he's very smart, but he has the smell of something that's not right. I don't want you to see him again.' That was six months ago. I promised Dad that I'd break up with Silas and never see him again, but I just couldn't. Now how do I tell Dad that I've seen Silas again, that Silas is an attempted murderer who killed himself, and that I got pregnant four months after I supposedly broke up forever. Mom will try to help, but Dad is stubborn. He'll say that I'm going to have to get married, but to whom? He'll probably pick a Wizard thirty years older than me."

"I can understand how your problems would make you more dependent on Silas, and he took advantage of that, persuading you to participate in his plot," Harry reasoned.

"Yes, except it didn't seem so much wrong as merely a harmless prank that was really on the stupid side. I didn't think he was going to do anything illegal."

"I think I told you that Pansy Parkinson and Draco's father were his accomplices," Harry continued. "Did you see him with either of them often?"

Our treats arrived and Erin had a spoonful of the cocoa and a nibble of cookie, before answering "I saw him talking to Pansy a few times, but that was as they were leaving a class they had together. I only saw Mr. Malfoy the night he came to Hogwarts this term. I know he never spoke to Silas. Pansy and Silas did speak a couple times during the project at the circle, but there isn't anything suspicious about that. We all talked to each other."

Discussion paused, while we each consumed some of our snack. The menu had been correct: the hot chocolate was made with cream added to the milk and it was very, very rich and not too sweet. I like my chocolate bittersweet and this filled the bill. The eclair was also very nice. I was daintily wiping my mouth with the fancy cloth napkin, when I realized Harry was asking Erin another question "… practice apparating."

"It was near their house. In a quarry, I think. He lived in Kent, not far from Sissinghurst. He said it wasn't fair that good people, like his family, lived in what he called 'basically a shack', while some non-magical Muggles got to live at Sissinghurst. He thought Sissinghurst was the best place in the world to live. He even said that I would think him silly, but that he and I would one day live there. I probably should have noticed at the time how much he convinced himself to believe impossible things. I thought he was just being silly to amuse me. I certainly should have realized that it was a little nasty how much he disliked those Muggles. I convinced myself that he was just passionate in his beliefs. I didn't agree with his views, but I liked his passion."

{{I'll bet she did!}}

{Don't be snide. I think she's more a victim than anything.}

"I don't want to push you to make a decision," Harry said to Erin, "but I imagine you might prefer to go back to Hogwarts, than to stay here on the project."

"No, I definitely want to stay here. It will help keep my mind off my problems, and I'm happy to postpone explanations in the common room. It also may help me get the job I need."

"Would you excuse me a moment?" Harry asked as he headed off to the gents.

Harry wasn't away long. In the meantime, Cissy had told Erin, "If you need a place to stay, you can stay with me at the Castle. I think we'll all be willing to talk to the Headmaster and try to persuade her that you have to stay to graduate. Maybe you can pop home before we go back to Hogwarts and tell your parents that you're going to spend Christmas as my guest at the Castle."

"That would be great!" Erin exclaimed. "It nicely postpones the talk with my parents and gives me longer to work out a solution."

I saw Harry walking back toward our table {I phoned Shacklebolt to ask him to alert the Prime Minister that there was a small chance of a bomb at Sissinghurst. Shacklebolt said that I should tell him myself, so I did. I also asked Shacklebolt to look for the 'package' at some sort of quarry near the Stowe home in Kent.}

Harry grabbed another cookie and a sip of his cocoa, as I waved at George and Luna passing outside the shop. Luna waved back, but they kept walking.

"If Professor McGonagall doesn't let me stay at Hogwarts after the Christmas break, do you think there is some way that I could continue my studies and graduate?" Erin pressed Harry.

"I'm sure we could work something out for at least a few courses," Harry promised. "What are you most interested in?"

"I earned the O.W.L.s in Divination and Herbology. I'd like to try for NEWTs in those. And I want to earn an O.W.L. in Magical Engineering. I joined Professor Celine's art class a couple weeks after the start of term. I heard the other girls talking about how much help it was, not just to develop art ability, but to develop themselves. I joined her after-classes art club and that was such a huge help to me and I enjoyed it so much that I begged her to let me into her formal class. It really was my only escape from feeling controlled by Silas. I loved him, but he didn't like me to think for myself. For a Hufflepuff, he seemed very determined to have a Slytherin wife."

"You have the textbooks and, if the exams can be arranged, we can tutor you in Divination and magical engineering. We could probably persuade Professor Longbottom to help you in Herbology. He is very understanding," I replied. "Perhaps Professor Celine would be willing to continue working with you, after classes."

"I'll talk to Professor Celine for you, and I can help you in Muggle studies," Cissy offered. "I understand more about the Muggles than almost any Wizard, not that I can match Mr. Granger. But you're jumping ahead in seeking solutions. Professor McGonagall may well let you finish at Hogwarts."

"I'm not jumping ahead. When is the last time any of you have seen an obviously pregnant student at Hogwarts?"

None of us could think of an example.

"That's why I'm jumping ahead," she replied, with the hint of a tear showing at the corner of her right eye. "Let's talk about something less depressing," she suggested.

We talked about plans for completing the repairs to the circle. "It's hard to plan," Harry explained "not knowing when we'll get replacement crystals or what their exact size will be. We'll do the silver wiring tomorrow and there's a lot more polishing to do on the quartz cylinder, but unless we get the replacement crystals within the next few days, that will hold up completion."

Finishing our snack, we spent about an hour strolling through George's shop, chatting with Lee, and checking out some new products that Lee was developing. Harry was particularly interested in a little bomb that would render stone floors perilously slippery and a spray that could determine if a particular wand had been used within the past hour. He took a handful of each.

"If you like those, I've got something really novel, which may appeal to you," George added. "I got the idea from the failure of magic. It's just the thing to sabotage a rival in class or before the NEWTs. Here, take this demonstration wand and try to levitate me."

Harry easily levitated Lee five feet off the ground and slowly put him back down. "Now give that wand back to me. I spray it with 'Weasley's Failure Spray', give it about a minute to dry, and then it's ready for you to test."

Harry tried to levitate George, but he wouldn't budge. "That's really neat," Harry congratulated Lee. Can I take a sample of that?"

"It's yours," Lee replied, handing the little spray can to Harry.

Harry checked his watch and said that it was time to return to the Ministry. "I want to be there after Draco visits Pansy, both to buck him up if he's feeling gloomy and to find out if he learned anything of value to us. I really don't know what is to be done with Pansy or what is to become of Draco, without her. I doubt he realizes what a low opinion of him she currently holds."

We made it back to the Ministry a little after noon. Harry wanted to stop by his office and then check with Shacklebolt to see if Draco had visited Pansy. Draco was waiting for us in Harry's reception room. "If you'll excuse us," Harry said to Erin, Cissy, and me as he motioned to Draco to join him in his office. We sat in the waiting chairs, although I was not to be denied a quick report on Draco's visit. I said a few words to prime a conversation between Erin and Cissy and then focused on tunneling into Harry's mind, through the wall of his office. Although Harry always claimed to be a dud at Occlumancy, I usually couldn't just tune into him, unless he wanted me to. I assumed that he wanted me to, since I was picking up the conversation.

"How was your meeting with Pansy?"

"Mixed, but not good. I think she told me the truth and she apologized and said I had every right to hate her. I told her that I couldn't decide whether I was more upset by her going off to London to engage in a criminal plot against my friends or sleeping with my father."

"She said she was sorry, but that she had not found me to be as strong a Wizard as she had hoped for. She said she expected a defender of the way of life that she was raised to expect, and she wanted a husband who could provide a certain lifestyle. She said that with my father unlikely to give me a Knut or to let me into the family business, I seemed to have a very ordinary future."

"I said that sounded like she had been sleeping with my father more recently than I thought."

"She said that they had gotten together for the first time since his last visit to Hogwarts on the first day that Pansy was in London to work on your cavern repairs. You probably guessed that she had no interest in the work. She was in town for the plot and to meet my father. She said my father had asked her to leave me and go hide in the Muggle world with him. He promised adventure and a very pampered life. She said she turned him down, but that it hardly mattered, now that he was dead. She said she'd stay with me, as my wife."

"I said that hardly mattered as she would certainly be going off to Azkaban for a considerable time and that I had no interest in a wife who slept with my father and plotted against my friends. We did not part amicably. I believe that a spouse being convicted of a crime and sent off to Azkaban is grounds for immediate divorce."

"I'll check, but I believe you're right."

"I asked her why she would throw away a promising life for such a stupid plot.

"She said her mother asked her to do it, and that I, more than anyone, should understand the desire to follow a mother's request. She said her mother's life was not the same without her house Elves and she didn't see how she could live a life she would be comfortable with, without an Elf. She said when she announced that she never intended to have a job, that this most certainly included cooking, cleaning a house, and running after little brats, wiping snot off their noses. She said her life was meant to be managing the Elves and socializing with the other aristocratic Witches.

"I told her that I certainly would have hired Elves to do her household chores. I also said that the life she was describing had vanished. All the interesting young Witches planned on having jobs and wouldn't be around for her to chat with during the day."

"She said it wouldn't be at all the same to have Elves that you didn't own. You could not trust them as a member of the family. She then said that if I thought young Witches with jobs were so interesting, that I should have married Cho or Hermione. She said that proper Slytherin girls would not have jobs.

"You know, within a few years I think they will. Even Mother wants to get out and accomplish something. Well, speaking of which, I'm off to Hogwarts to deal with Mother. From there… I'll let you know. Tough that the only marriage you've officiated turned into such a bust. I'll think about Pansy, but it seems over. Can't have a wife you can't trust. I'd have a spy in my own house. Even without the stuff with my father and participation in this plot, I'm not sure I want a wife who is determined to be as useless as Pansy appears determined to be. I'm not really sure what I was thinking. You know, Pansy even ended with a little dig that if I hadn't been quite so concerned with pleasing my mother, that perhaps my Dad would have held no appeal for her. She said she couldn't imagine Lucius being so concerned with and tied to his mother. I told her that my mother needed my help and that I couldn't imagine my father understanding that or helping anyone without the promise of personal gain flowing back to him. In fact, I told her that apart from greed and hatred that I wasn't at all sure that my father was capable of human emotion.

"She just said that she found him pleasingly capable of lust and passion. It was all I could do not to hit her. I could pretend that I was being noble and wouldn't hit a girl, but you know I hit Ginny. I think I didn't hit her because there were two aurors there, and she wasn't worth the aggravation of all the legal hassles that would result. She said what she really admired about my father was that he always knew what he wanted and was never afraid to simply take it. She said I had gone all sensitive and religious on her, and that she much preferred the old strutting Draco, who had an edge of meanness to his being. I can tell I'm upset when I speak of myself in the third person. This has been an awful day. I don't expect a meeting with mother to improve my mood, but it is not to be postponed."

As that conversation seemed to be at an end, I broke my link with Harry and was startled that Erin and Cissy's conversation had switched to the wonderfulness of Professor Celine. I had realized that Cissy was a true believer in Professor Celine, but had thought that art class would be viewed as a bit impractical by Erin. Still, I was hearing Erin say "… Celine just gives me a whole new outlook on how I can think and what I can become."

Cissy replied "I've always handled my father's accounting and been a better than average student, but even all the things that I learned from the Light Guardian didn't give as much of a sense that I could create a vision of something new and wonderful, using just my mind, and then magically transform it into physical reality. I had no prior experience with oil painting or metal or stone sculpting, but she has guided me to see how I can produce art of great beauty and personal meaning. I admit that the magical engineering skills that the Light Guardian poured into my head gave me a big head start on the technical aspects of working stone, but they didn't give me the ability to imagine what I wanted to work the stone to become. Now I can conceptualize my thoughts and outlook in a beautiful shape that conveys my dreams and inner self in a way that language just cannot.

"I've accomplished this in less than half a term of classes and her after school art club. More important, she makes me feel better about myself. Harry Potter and his friends have certainly helped with my confidence, but I don't think I could have taken the final step without Professor Celine. I spent so much time with my father denigrating the ability of Witches and my brother piling on, and then the whole Slytherin common room reinforced that view. Even the Witches like Pansy, and I assure you she was very much like all of the others, believed they couldn't and shouldn't achieve anything in their lives, except managing house Elves and looking pretty. Professor Celine has a vision of what Witches can accomplish. She has even made a life for herself in the Muggle world. She said she had no choice if she were to escape the power and narrow mindedness of Wizards. She was hesitant when the headmaster asked her to come to Hogwarts, but now believes it is more important to mold young Witches than wood or stone."

"That's one of the reasons I need to stay at Hogwarts as long as I possibly can. I NEED Professor Celine. Without her, I think I'd just sink. Do you think she'd be willing to keep working with me, if I had to leave Hogwarts, but was living at your castle, with Harry and his friends tutoring me? There are just things that they can't give me."

"I just know that Professor Celine would never let a young Witch of your potential just sink. Not if there was any way at all that she could prevent it," Cissy quickly replied.

I liked Professor Celine quite a lot and found her to be an enormously talented Witch who had taken Transfiguration in a wholly unique personal direction. Still, sitting and listening to this level of heroine worship brought me near to gagging. I was happy to see the door to Harry's office open, so that I had a graceful escape from Cissy's enthusiasm.

I told Harry that I needed to stop by Ollivander's to talk to Seamus. He said he needed to meet with Percy and Cotto, but that he would give me Bill to escort me to the shop. I happily accepted the offer and set off upon my mission.

Checking back in with Shacklebolt at the end of the day, we learned that a bomb, of the plastic explosive in a shiny brass object with a clock timer sort, which we had taken to calling 'Muggle bombs', had been discovered at Sissinghurst and disarmed. The Muggles had requested fingerprint samples for comparison, and the Ministry sent those of Silas, Pansy, and Lucius. The Muggle PM reported back that some of the fingerprints on the bomb were Silas's, but that there were others and that they did not match Lucius or Pansy. We were tasked with covertly obtaining Erin's prints. A team of aurors had discovered a small, one-foot cube magical storage cabinet hidden under water in an abandoned chalk quarry near the home of Silas's parents outside Swanscombe. They had no idea how to open the box. Attempts to open it with Silas's wand and with a silver pinkie ring that he wore on his left hand did not meet with success.