Chapter Seven

In August Mr Trelawney's nephew came to stay for a couple of weeks. Simon O'Connor was the son of Mr Trelawney's sister who had married a Muggle engineer from Ireland. After leaving Hogwarts with many outstanding NEWTs the year before the handsome young wizard had started a promising career at the Ministry, where he worked as an equal opportunities commissioner in a department which had been newly created after the war in order to guarantee that Muggle-borns and half-bloods were not disadvantaged with jobs, payment and promotion. Simon was very efficient in his position, he soon became known for his high ambition and for his fierce hatred for everything connected with the pure-blood doctrine of Voldemort and his followers. When he learned that his uncle employed a prisoner who had been convicted for being a Death Eater, he immediately expressed his disagreement with the trust his uncle put in the man. According to Simon the conditions for 701 resembled holidays rather than punishment; convicts – and especially former Death Eaters - had to be treated much harder. It was complete folly to trust them and to believe in their obedience. They were experts in dissembling and would think nothing of murdering their owners in their sleep.

Mr Trelawney, however, remained adamant in that he wouldn't use unnecessary cruelty, an attitude which Simon definitely and vehemently disapproved of. He wanted to demonstrate to his uncle how wrong his positive opinion of the convict was and became obsessed with revealing an overt act of disobedience which would justify punishment. So Simon started following 701 surreptitiously, watching him closely, watching him even in his private quarters in the stables at night. After keeping watch for days and not finding anything but dutiful hard work during the day and some harmless potion making in the evenings, one night, when Simon once again was looking through the small window of the stables from the outside, he saw something that made his lips curl into a smile of grim satisfaction: The convict was reading a book by the small light of his wand. Suppressing a howl of triumph Simon stormed into the stables and overwhelmed the startled man. He pressed his wand to 701's temple.

"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted, snatching the book from the convict's grip. The man just stared at him in shock.

"Answer me!" Simon grabbed his prisoner's collar and shook him violently. Still 701 said nothing. Furiously Simon took hold of the convict's arms, turned them on his back and touched the wristbands with his wand. Now they were joined and the convict was bound. He pushed the helpless man onto his cot and with a violent flick of his wand conjured thick ropes that wound themselves tightly around his body, binding him to the cot and gagging him.

"Tomorrow I'll finally be able to prove to my uncle that his trust in scum like you was unjustified," Simon Trelawney hissed with a self-satisfied smile, collected the convict's wand and the book and left.

The convict was lying in the darkness, struggling for breath and trying to relax his limbs against the ropes. After a while his body adjusted to the situation, the pounding in his head relented. As he lay there, wide awake, listening to the noises of the horses, his mind was in overdrive. Had he expected his little bit of happiness to last forever? What a fool he had been! He should have been alarmed when he had noticed Simon watching him during the day, but his suspicions had been numbed by the kindness he had experienced in the Trelawney household so far. He had felt secure, had become too careless. These last months – for the first time in years he had felt really alive. The friendship he had been enjoying with Miranda – Merlin! Miranda – whatever they would do to him the following day he had to make sure that they wouldn't find out about her. He couldn't allow her to be punished for her sympathy. It was over, he wouldn't see her again. Mr Trelawney most probably would alert the Ministry first thing in the morning, he would be locked into a dark and lonely cell in Azkaban again and even if he was allowed to stay in Cornwall – Mr Trelawney would never renew his permission for the potions lessons. He felt the tears come to his eyes and did nothing to hold them back.

Simon returned early the next morning and removed the ropes, grabbed the convict's collar and forced him to his feet. 701 clenched his teeth, tried not to show his weakness, but after a cold night of being immobilized his limbs were numb and he crumbled to the floor.

"Get up!" Again he was pulled up violently by his collar.

"Move."

Dragged along by the merciless hand at his neck, fighting against the cramps and the pins and needles in his legs, the convict stumbled out of the stables and towards the house.

They went up the stairs into the hall and 701 felt the onset of pain. He was pushed into the library and forced onto his knees in front of Mr Trelawney's desk..

"Simon, what on earth…?"

"I found him with a book. I've always suspected that he wasn't the obedient servant you took him for and I was right!"

With a flourish Simon placed the book on the desk in front of his uncle.

Trelawney took it and read the title. "Edgar Allan Poe. It's Muggle fiction."

He looked at the convict whose face was pale and haggard and rigid with pain.

"Where did you get it from?" The prisoner could only shake his head, clenching his teeth in order not to scream with pain.

"Answer!" Simon shouted. Still 701 said nothing, his breathing was rapid and shallow, beads of sweat had appeared on his face.

"Crucio." Simon's face was contorted with hatred. The convict collapsed on the floor, writhing in agony and finally succumbing to screaming.

Mr Trelawney tried to intervene and stop his nephew's curse, but Simon was stronger and shook him off.

"Stop it! Stop it, for Merlin's sake!" A woman's voice cutting through the convict's screams.

Startled with surprise about the intrusion Simon lifted the curse and turned. Miranda Weaver was standing in the open door, her face deathly pale, her eyes flashing angrily.

"How can you do this to a human being?"

"He's only a convict and he has acted against the rules," Simon retorted defiantly.

"He's still a human. What has he done to deserve such punishment? Mr Trelawney?"

She went over to the older man, who had been watching his nephew's actions incredulously.

"He has been found in possession of a book," Mr Trelawney answered wearily.

Miranda bit her lip. Oh, no! Bloody Hell! This couldn't be true – they had found out. She took a deep breath.

"It was me. I gave them to him. I persuaded him to take them," she said quietly.

A desperate groan came from the convict.

"Them?" Mr Trelawney frowned. "Since when has this been going on?"

"Since I looked after his wound. It was my idea entirely. Don't punish him."

She looked at the shaking man on the carpet. He was panting, his eyes were closed, blood was running from his nose and he had wet himself.

"Don't make him stay in here, please, he's in pain," Miranda pleaded.

"He was disobedient. He must be punished. And you as well. You are not allowed to contact a convict," Simon interrupted furiously.

Mr Trelawney ran a hand over his face. "Healer Weaver, you may take 701 outside," he pointed to the French windows leading to the patio, "and we have to discuss this, Simon," he said to this nephew.

Miranda gently helped the convict to his feet and led him outside, where he collapsed and vomited heavily.

Mr Trelawney watched them for a moment, then stared at the stains on the carpet, wrinkling his nose in disgust about the smell.

"Simon, do something useful with that wand of yours and clean away this mess," he told his nephew with a hard voice.

"They deserve punishment, both of them," Simon demanded angrily, "the ministry should be informed, she should lose her license!."

"Simon, please clean the carpet."

With a furious jerk Simon pointed his wand at the dark spots on the carpet. "Scorgify," he muttered with a scowl, then turned to his uncle again.

"You must punish them. It's your duty as an owner."

"No!" Mr Trelawney stated firmly. "What they did was against the law, that's right. But your aunt needs a healer and she trusts Madam Weaver. I don't want to make her get used to a new person merely because Madam Weaver couldn't resist doing an act of pity. It was me who allowed them to meet in the first place. They share an interest in potions, it seemed harmless. Madam Weaver broke the rules out of sympathy for 701, not to harm us. Moreover, convict 701 has been a docile and reliable servant so far, there has never been an occasion for complaints, let alone punishment. I absolutely refuse to do anything drastic now, after such a minor offence."

"Minor offence!" Simon snorted. "Books can be dangerous. That's why convicts…"

"See reason, boy, it's a Muggle classic, no book about Dark Magic."

He sighed and looked out of the window, where the convict was sitting on the floor with his back to the wall, the healer steadying him with one arm around his shoulders and gently wiping the blood and sweat from his face with a handkerchief. She also seemed to have used a cleaning spell on his clothes and the paving.

With another sigh Mr Trelawney turned to his nephew again and continued. "Don't worry, I'm going to punish them alright. I will programme his wristband so that he can't read without feeling pain and can't get into contact with her again. I think that's enough."

Simon obviously didn't think so, but could see from his uncle's expression that further arguing would be a waste of breath. So after staring out of the window angrily for a few minutes, he just nodded curtly and left the library.

Mr Trelawney went outside to inform the two culprits of his decision. They both accepted without a word. Miranda received her book and put it in her bag. Then she looked at the convict. He was exhausted, drained after all the pain, still suffering from light spasms and cramps.

"I'm so sorry," she said softly. He met her gaze and his mouth twitched into a sad little smile. Slowly she raised her hand and touched his cheek. Mr Trelawney could sense the emotions between the two people. Her eyes were glittering with tears when she finally rose without a word and disappeared into the house, on her way to her patient.

Mr Trelawney released the convict's hands and touched his red wristband with his wand to add the new commands. Then he helped the convict to his feet.

"You like each other, don't you?" Mr Trelawney said sadly.

701 just stared at him, then averted his eyes. Mr Trelawney sighed, never before had he seen such hopelessness.

"Go back to work, 701."

Thanks to J.K.Rowling for the inspiring characters