Chapter 9
Aftermath
"It is important to remember that very often in life, the proper question is not "whether," something will happen, but "how"."
General (ret.) Jigme Dorji Wengshuk
"What, Voldemort?" Harriet asked.
"Come on!" Hermione exclaimed.
There was no time. At that moment, there was a ripple of popping noises. In the darkness, Harriet was just able to make out a group of twenty or so figures that had them almost completely surrounded. An instant later, Harriet realized that every one of the figures was raising a wand in their direction.
"DOWN!" Harriet shouted and threw herself upon the other four.
Dora shouted, but her protest was drowned out by the circle of wizards around them crying out at once. "STUPEFY!"
Even though her eyes were shut, Harriet's vision suddenly went red. Her scalp prickled as the energy of dozens of hexes flashed mere inches above their heads. Ronnie cried out in shock.
"STOP!" called a familiar voice. "STOP! That's my daughter!"
"Harriet!?" cried another familiar voice.
The spells ceased. Harriet heard the sound of pounding feet. She lifted her head just in time for strong hands to take her by the shoulders and pull her to her feet.
"Harriet! Are you alright? You're not hurt?"
Harriet shook her head as she looked up into Daniel's pale stricken face. Remus was standing just behind Daniel, also looking pale and yet relieved at the sight of her. Next to them, Mr Weasley was fussing over Ronnie and Dora's parents were inspecting Dora for injuries.
"Out of the way," said another curt, angry voice.
Daniel's face hardened as he rounded on the man walking towards them. Several of the newcomers had illuminated their wands and in their flickering lights, combined with the glow of the green skull and snake, Harriet recognized Barty Crouch storming towards them.
"Get out of it, Crouch," Daniel snarled.
Crouch paid him no mind. "Which of you did it?" Crouch shouted, pointing at the floating skull. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?"
"We didn't do that!" Dora protested, indignantly.
"Barty, you don't seriously expect children to have conjured the Dark Mark?" another of the witches asked, trying to be reasonable.
"Who conjured it? Did you see them?" Mr Weasley asked, his voice much kinder.
"Who cares who conjured it?" Ronnie said, stamping a foot in frustration and pointing to the spot under the Mark. "He's dead!" her voice shook, on the verge of hysteria. "Marcus is all frozen up!"
"What?" Mr Weasley asked, taken aback. "Who's dead? Marcus, lad, what's wrong?"
"Karkaroff," Marcus muttered. "He's dead. He just crumpled."
"Karkaroff? Dead?" Crouch said, pausing. "Not Igor Karkaroff? What on earth are you on about?"
"It was Kinney!" Harriet said, moving past Daniel to support Ronnie. "Solomon Kinney! He murdered Igor Karkaroff right over there!"
Everyone in the clearing fell silent, except for Marcus whose continued muttering was easier to hear. Hermione was still kneeling beside him.
"Marcus saw the whole thing," Hermione said. "Kinney was disguised as someone else, as an Auror. He said his name was Joshua Daniels."
"Daniels?" said the boisterous voice of Amos Diggory. "We don't have any aurors by that name, do we?"
"No…" said another voice Harriet thought familiar. She looked around and saw it came from a tall, brown skinned auror. She recognized him from the previous summer after Kinney's bombing, but she couldn't remember his name.
"I told you he didn't look familiar," Ronnie chimed in. "Didn't I?
"Now everyone just calm down," said the Auror again. "First, we must get to the bottom of what happened here."
"Yes, right you are, Shacklebolt," said Crouch.
Shacklebolt, that's right, Harriet thought. She'd liked having him around. He gave off a strong air of calm and command.
"I'll check it out, sir," Mr Diggory said, boisterously moving towards the floating skull.
"You will not, Mr Diggory," Shacklebolt said. "I am the ranking Auror here."
"Might I offer some assistance?" said a completely new voice which Harriet did not recognize. The voice was deep and crisp, the accent strange. It sounded British, yet a dialect she could not place.
"And who are you?" asked Crouch, rounding on the newcomer.
In the wavering wand light, Harriet recognized the strange, pale man in the blue robes she had seen in the top box. Now he had four black-robed figures with him instead of just two.
The pale man smiled and bowed courteously. "I am Lord Darius. If you would like, my Horsemen would be perfectly willing to investigate the scene for you, if you are worried about injury coming to your own?"
He seemed pleasant enough, yet Harriet somehow couldn't help but detect a slight hint of condescension. Apparently she was not the only one as a bristle of whispers and scoffs passed around the group of Ministry witches and wizards.
"Vampires!" exclaimed a high-pitched, exasperated voice from somewhere in the little crowd. "Why on earth should we allow vampires to investigate a potential crime scene? This is a Ministry matter!"
Harriet's eyes went wide. Beside her, Hermione and Dora gave her matching incredulous looks. They had shared the top box with three vampires? She thought back on the last year, having to write an essay on them for Professor Lupin. Professor Lupin hadn't seemed enthusiastic about it, but it was part of the school's curriculum he'd said.
"That's enough, Dolores," Crouch said. "I will remind all of you that I am the ranking Ministry official here." He turned to address Darius, "However, she is right. This is a Ministry matter, and we haven't even ascertained that anyone has been killed."
He directed his last statement at Shacklebolt and Diggory, "All right, you two, take a few others and investigate."
Mr Diggory nodded and rolled up his sleeves before he and Shacklebolt headed off, wands at the ready, into the forest. Lord Darius had fallen silent, and his eyes were narrowed. As Harriet watched, he muttered under his breath and the two black figures on his right backed up slowly and disappeared into the darkness, while one of the remaining figures moved over to take their place.
"Merlin's beard!" Mr Diggory exclaimed.
A hushed silence fell over the crowd. "Yes… the kids are right… it's Karkaroff. Killing Curse by the looks of it. No marks on him," said Shacklebolt.
"And blimey! That's not all!" Diggory called.
"What?" Crouch called. "What's not all?"
"It seems that we got someone with our stunning spells, after all," Shacklebolt said.
"Who?" Crouch asked, his voice tight with disbelief.
A moment later, Shacklebolt and Diggory came walking back into the clearing. A tiny figure was cradled in Mr Diggory's arms. Harriet recognized the tea-towel the figure was wearing at once. It was Winky, Crouch's house-elf.
Crouch had gone rigid. Almost every eye in the clearing was on him as Diggory lay Winky down at his feet. Crouch simply stared at her while everyone else watched him.
"This… this cannot be… no!" Crouch said.
He sprang to life and pushed forcibly past Mr Diggory and Shacklebolt.
"There's no point, Mr Crouch," Mr Diggory called after him. "There's nothing else there save Karkaroff."
Mr Crouch didn't appear to hear him, or was ignoring him as they listened to him thrashing about in the bushes. At that moment, one of Lord Darius' bodyguards stepped forward angrily, speaking rapidly in a language Harriet couldn't understand and pointing. Several of the Ministry wizards rounded on him raising their wands. Lord Darius put a hand on the guard's shoulder and pulled him back, muttering in his ear.
"What are you plotting?" asked the voice of Dolores Umbridge. Harriet now saw the pink clad, unpleasant figure she despised step forward into the clearing. She was the one who was trying to mess with Sirius' trial. It was Fudge's Senior Undersecretary.
"We plot nothing, my dear lady," Lord Darius said. "My Horsemen here is simply expressing his dismay that in his haste, Mr Crouch is most likely going to destroy or corrupt any remaining evidence as to what actually happened."
"Oh a likely story," Umbridge said. "We know all about your kind, Lord Darius!"
"Miss Umbridge!" gasped a wizard in shock.
"Well, why are they so interested in getting to the scene?" Umbridge went on, her short little wand unwavering as it pointed at Lord Darius' face. "No doubt they want to destroy any evidence that it was them who carried out the murder!"
There was a wave of angry derision after this. Harriet suddenly felt her own temper flare. She didn't know any of the vampires, but having learned the truth about werewolves and how they weren't as dark as everyone made out, she felt a sharp annoyance that everyone was taking the same suspicious attitude of the vampires.
"It wasn't any of them!" Harriet said pushing past Daniel.
"Nor was it Winky!" Hermione said stepping up next to Harriet.
"I saw who did it!" Harriet said. "It was Solomon Kinney like I told you! He was disguised as someone else!"
"And Winky didn't conjure the Dark Mark, either!" Dora added.
"Of course she didn't," Mr Weasley agreed. "No one's saying she did, girls."
"Well she's the one found closest to the scene of the crime," Mr Diggory said.
"But how is a house-elf supposed to conjure the Dark Mark, Amos? Or kill someone?" Daniel said. "It was only ever Voldemort's supporters who knew how to conjure the Dark Mark. Furthermore, she'd need a wand."
"Well, she had a wand," Mr Diggory said. "Right in her hands, which is a violation of clause three of the Code of Wand Use for a start—"
Diggory was cut off by a popping noise and Ludo Bagman reappeared in the clearing. He nearly stepped on Winky as he spun around, taking in all the faces.
"The Dark Mark! Who conjured it!? Did you get them? Barty! What's going on?"
Mr Crouch returned to the clearing. He was very pale, almost as pale as Lord Darius, and he seemed a little twitchy.
"Where the blazes have you been, Barty?" Bagman asked. "Why weren't you at the match? Your elf was saving you a—Gulping Gargoyles!" Bagman actually jumped an inch in the air in surprise as he finally noticed Winky on the ground at his feet. "What happened to her?!"
"I was busy, Ludo," Crouch said, curtly. "And my elf has been Stunned."
"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why?!"
Bagman looked back down at the elf, then up at the Dark Mark and comprehension dawned on his face. "No! Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! And she'd need a wand!"
"And she had one!" Mr Diggory chimed in. "Found her holding one!"
"Even if she was holding the wand that's only circumstantial," Daniel said.
"It wasn't her!" Harriet said, stamping a foot in frustration. "We heard the voice that spoke conjuring the Mark!"
"Yeah!" Dora said. "And it definitely wasn't a house-elf!"
"And what makes you so sure of that?" Umbridge asked, coolly.
"Because our family has house-elves, Miss Umbridge," Dora's father said, even more coolly and looming to full height. "Three of them, in fact. She has heard them speak her entire life. Are you implying that my daughter is a liar?"
"N-no, Mr Flamel," Umbridge said, breathlessly, clearly recognizing who Mr Flamel was. "M-merely… that she might have been mistaken, with everything that had been happening."
"I believe even a human would have to be very badly shaken indeed to mistake a house-elf for a wizard," Lord Darius said, casually.
Umbridge shot him a nasty look.
"Well then, let's find out," Mr Diggory said. "I think we should hear what she has to say for herself. Even if she didn't do it, she would have only been feet away from the person who did."
"Yes, good thought, Mr Diggory," Shacklebolt agreed.
Mr Diggory pointed his wand at Winky. "Rennervate!"
Winky gasped as she regained consciousness. Her brown eyes snapped open and she blinked in bemusement, looking around. She slowly sat up, rubbing her little forehead and wincing. She then caught sight of Mr Diggory's feet, and slowly looked up at his face. Then, her eyes moved past him to the Dark Mark floating in the sky. She gasped and tried to scramble back away from it before she stopped and simply broke down into terrified sobs.
"Elf!" Mr Diggory said, in a dignified, superior tone. "Do you know who I am? I am a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Dangerous Creatures."
Winky merely responded by hugging her legs to her chest and rocking back and forth, panting heavily and rapidly. Harriet was sure she was about to hyperventilate.
"Oh lay off her, for pity's sake, Amos," Mr Weasley said. "She's a witness, not a suspect."
"But she had the wand—"
"Amos!" Mr Weasley snapped now. "Think about it! Precious few wizards know how to conjure that Mark! Where would she have learned it? Or even how to use a wand to begin with?"
"Perhaps Amos is suggesting that I regularly teach my servants how to conjure dark magic such as the Dark Mark?" Crouch growled, seeming to regain his senses. "Or how to use wands illegally?"
"M-Mr Crouch!" Mr Diggory spluttered. "I never meant—"
"You have accused my elf, and in doing so you have accused me, Diggory."
Mr Diggory looked quite abashed now. Harriet glanced at Lord Darius again. The pale old man was looking on this scene with a distinct air of amusement.
"None of this gets us any closer to finding out what happened," Shacklebolt said. "A murder has been committed here and the body is still lying only yards away from us. I think we can afford a little calmness and decency to find out what happened, can we not?"
"Yes, quite right, Kingsley, thank you," Mr Diggory said, sounding glad for the distraction. "Elf, you were found directly beneath the Dark Mark with this wand in your hand moments after the Mark was cast."
Mr Diggory held up the wand. In the green light of the skull and the flickering wands, Harriet gasped as she recognized the wand at once.
"Hey! That's mine!"
"What?" Mr Diggory asked, turning to Harriet in surprise.
"That's my wand! I thought I dropped it a ways back! I noticed it was missing right after we got into the woods. I think I left it back in the tent when we ran off."
"Oh, is that right?" Mr Diggory asked. "Left it behind in the tent? Or dropped it right after conjuring the Dark Mark—"
"That's enough!" Daniel snapped and he actually stepped up, nose to nose with Amos, his hands clenched in fists. "You're now accusing not only a fourteen year old, but Harriet Potter of conjuring the Dark Mark?"
Mr Diggory spluttered a little. Even in the green light, Harriet could tell his face had gone very red.
"S-sorry, Mr Dusk, yes, just got a little carried away. Anyway, elf—"
"She has a name," Lord Darius said, coolly. "And it is not, Elf."
"Mr Shacklebolt," Crouch said. "Would you kindly escort Lord Darius from the scene? He has no jurisdiction here, and his presence is likely to cause trouble should it be discovered he and his kind are here."
Lord Darius' eyes went very narrow indeed at this.
"Is that wise, Mr Crouch?" Umbridge asked. "We should question them as suspects should we not—"
"No need," Lord Darius said, holding up a hand to Shacklebolt. "We shall leave of our own accord. We would not wish to upset the Ministry by our mere presence, human. Álætnes. Burgrún. We're going."
Lord Darius turned and the two remaining black cloaked figures followed.
"Stop them!" Umbridge squeaked. "They are suspects!"
"Be quiet, Dolores!" another witch hissed urgently.
Lord Darius paid her no mind however, and a moment later he was also swallowed up by the darkness.
"Uh… well… um… elf—er, I mean to say—Winky…" Mr Diggory said, trying to bring the conversation back to the incident. "You were found with the wand in your hand. Where did you find it?"
Winky turned and pointed a shaky hand at the place underneath the Dark Mark. "I is finding it there, sir… there, in the woods…"
"Well, we'll see. Did you know there's a way of telling just which spells a wand last cast?" Mr Diggory asked Winky. He lifted Harriet's wand and his own, putting them tip to tip. "Prior Incantato."
Harriet gasped. Thick grey smoke burst from the tip of her wand, and floated into the middle of the clearing. To Harriet's horror, the smoke whirled around and formed into a grey replica of the Dark Mark.
Everyone stared at it as it floated in the middle of the clearing. Then, something else burst from Harriet's wand. A small, grey horse, with a long horn on its head. Even if it was small and grey instead of massive and shining bright white, somehow the sight of Harriet's patronus was comforting to her.
"What's that?" asked Umbridge.
"That's my patronus," Harriet said. "It was the last spell I cast with my wand… Professor Lupin taught me how to conjure it."
Remus shifted a little. He seemed uncomfortable having attention drawn to himself, but he seemed to be hiding a little smile as well.
"Deletrius!" Diggory said, and the smoke Mark and unicorn vanished.
"Well, so we've proven that it wasn't Harriet's wand that killed Karkaroff," Daniel said.
Harriet felt another wave of relief at this.
"It also means that whoever conjured the Mark was not the same person to kill Karkaroff… curious…"
"So!" Mr Diggory exclaimed, rounding on Winky again. "So here we find you, holding the wand that did in fact conjure the Dark Mark! Can you account for that?"
"I is not doing it!" Winky wailed, tugging on her ears. "I is not! I is not knowing how! Winky is a good elf! Winky is not using wands! Winky is not knowing how!"
"You were caught red-handed, elf!" Mr Diggory went on. "Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!"
"This is the second time tonight that you have accused me, Diggory," Crouch said, his voice dangerously calm now.
"S-s-sorry, Mr Crouch," Mr Diggory stammered, brought back to his senses. "You're right, I'm sorry."
"As well you should be, Diggory," Crouch said, slowly advancing on Mr Diggory. "You have come very close to accusing the two people in this clearing who are the least likely to have conjured the Mark! Harriet Potter, and myself. Twice. I suggest you check yourself closely, Diggory. Your head of department would not like to hear about this, would he?"
Mr Diggory had gone very pale, indeed. Harriet was having a hard time deciding who was being the bigger jerk between the two. Glancing down at Winky, Harriet decided that in this case it was probably Mr Diggory.
"Well, there we have it," Mr Weasley said, trying to sound reasonable. "Whoever conjured the Dark Mark must have Disapparated right after they conjured it and left Harriet's wand behind."
"But, alright, even if she didn't conjure it, she would have been only feet away from the real culprit. Winky, did you see anyone?"
Winky was now trembling harder than ever. Her eyes were darting around everyone in the clearing, finally settling on Mr Crouch.
"I is seeing no one, sir, no one," Winky said.
"Can you all show even a modicum of dignity!" said one of the witches. "A man has been murdered and one of these children is traumatized and all you can do is squabble like children!"
A silence fell over the clearing once more.
"Yes, you're right, Miss Vance… quite right," Crouch said, sounding a little haughty but brought to his senses nonetheless. "Dolores, if you would be so kind as to summon Rufus and Amelia. They are still with the Minister I believe, who I'm sure would like to be brought up to speed. Arthur, as these children are with you, you may return with them to your tent if it is still intact. However, I'm sure you can expect another summons from Amelia for these children to give a proper accounting of what happened. Diggory. Give Miss Potter her wand back. It's told us all we need to know."
"Oh, right," Mr Diggory said and handed Harriet's wand back to her.
"Now then," Crouch went on. "Diggory, in the usual circumstances, I'm sure you would want to take Winky in for questioning. However, I'm going to ask that you allow me to deal with her instead."
Mr Diggory didn't look very pleased about this at all, yet Harriet could tell that Mr Crouch was far too important a Ministry member for Mr Diggory to refuse.
"I assure you… she will be punished…"
Mr Weasley, Daniel, and Remus all gave each other very uneasy looks. They slowly started guiding the teens away from the clearing.
"Punished!" Hermione exclaimed. "For what?"
Mr Weasley grimaced and tried harder to steer her away from the clearing but Hermione twisted free, watching on.
"M-m-master… p-please… please…" Winky stammered. Her voice was shaking, and despite her little size, Harriet was reminded of Hagrid the night of Buckbeak's execution. She sounded completely lost and hopeless.
Mr Crouch's gaze bore her no pity. "Tonight, Winky has behaved in a manner I could not have believed possible. I told her to remain in the tent. I told her to stay there no matter what happened until I returned. And here I find that she disobeyed me. Threatened her master's reputation. This means clothes."
"No!" Winky shrieked. She flung herself on the ground at Crouch's feet, clutching the hem of his robe and pleading. "No, master! Not clothes! Not clothes!"
Harriet stared on, dumbstruck by the scene. She remembered only too well how badly Dobby had hoped to be given clothes and be set free. Yet as she watched Winky's protests, it looked more like she had just been given a death sentence.
"She was frightened!" Hermione shouted. "She's afraid of heights and they were levitating people! It must have been her worst nightmare! Of course she'd get out of the way!"
Crouch stepped back from Winky, looking down at her with near hatred before bending a cold eye on Hermione. "I have no use for a house elf who forgets what is due to her master and his reputation."
The whole clearing fell silent except for Winky's continued sobs. Harriet felt Daniel's hand clench tighter on her shoulder as he turned her away. Remus was kneeling with Marcus, talking quietly. Finally, he managed to get Marcus to his feet and put a comforting arm around his shoulder. Marcus' knees were still shaking.
Hermione looked as though she wanted to say something more but Mrs Flamel put a gentle hand on Hermione's shoulder. Hermione looked up at her and sighed before the whole group turned and headed off towards the field once more.
"Is Marcus okay?" Hermione asked, glancing back over her shoulder as Professor Lupin continued to walk their friend along.
"He's badly shaken, but we'll set him right," Mr Weasley said. "There's nothing more to worry about. You're all safe now."
"What about Winky?" Hermione pressed. "What's going to happen to her?"
Mr Weasley sighed. "I don't know, Hermione."
Somehow, the trip back out of the forest seemed to go much quicker than it had going in. In almost no time, they were on the edge of the forest where a crowd had gathered, muttering anxiously and shifting around. At the sight of Mr Weasley, the whole crowd began bustling over and pestering him with questions.
"What's going on in there?"
"Who conjured it?"
"It wasn't him, was it Arthur?"
"Of course it—"
"Now now, move along, nothing to see here," said a bored but authoritative voice. "The Ministry will give an official statement when everything has been squared away. Move along, move along."
It was Dawlish, the auror who had followed Harriet around at the end of last year after Sirius had kidnapped Erica. Harriet glared at him but to her surprise, Dawlish actually gave her a tiny wink and ushered them away from the crowd. Once they were out of earshot, Daniel chuckled.
"Okay, I'd love to hear what you did with the real Dawlish."
Dawlish looked aghast. "My good man! If you mean to insinuate I would do harm to a member of law enforcement I am shocked. He's off with the minister about to be very confused as to why he's probably going to be reported in the Daily Prophet tomorrow having rudely told off a bunch of scared citizens."
Harriet blinked. "Professor Howe?"
"Shhh," Dawlish hissed. "Not so loud."
The realization hit Harriet like a wave of warm relief. Professor Howe-Dawlish leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Unfortunately I have another twenty or so minutes before the potion wears off, but I need you to tell me everything that happened tonight. I mean everything. Arthur, my good man, Daniel," Professor Howe said. "Would you mind if I asked Miss Potter a few questions?
"Of course not," Mr Weasley said.
Daniel nodded though it was a very reluctant one.
Professor Howe glanced at Marcus who was still shivering. His expression softened at once. "As for Mr Van Der Lakk, I highly recommend a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate and a soft bed before taking him in to St Mungo's in the morning. Taking him there now would probably be even more traumatic. A bit of normality is a much better cure."
Professor Howe smiled and put a hand on Harriet's shoulder and guided her a little ways away. He looked around and drew his long, strangely shaped wand and gave it a wave. At once, the same overwhelming silence fell over them as had done back in Professor Dumbledore's office.
"Now, Harriet, first of all… I'm truly sorry I was not able to be there with you tonight. The situation with the Roberts' family required a delicate touch and afterwards I had my own students to find."
"Yeah, we met them in the woods," Harriet said.
"I know," Professor Howe said. "They told me. After you left them, what happened?"
"Well… first… we ran into Crouch's house elf. She was running funny… I think because he told her not to leave their tent for any reason."
Professor Howe's eyes narrowed in thought. It was a bit odd for Harriet to see Dawlish's face looking clever and thoughtful.
"Crouch ordered his house elf to remain at their tent in spite of a mob heading towards it… I see… and then what?"
"Well, then we ran into…" Harriet trailed off. Even if she hadn't liked him much, she hadn't really wished Karkaroff dead.
"Yes?" Professor Howe pressed.
"We ran into Professor Karkaroff… from Durmstrang…"
"I see…" Professor Howe said, rubbing his chin in thought. He glanced up at the Dark Mark still floating in the air, just before a jet of sparks hit it and it dissipated.
"I'm guessing he's the reason for the Dark Mark?"
"I… I think so," Harriet said.
"You think so?"
"Yeah… well… Professor, it was Kinney, Kinney killed him."
Professor Howe's eyes narrowed even further and he looked up at the place where the Dark Mark had been. "I see… but he didn't conjure the Mark."
"No, I don't think so," Harriet paused. "How did you know?"
Professor Howe shrugged. "There's never been any indication that Kinney is working with the old Death Eaters. It's not his style anyway."
"He's too independent?" Harriet asked.
Professor Howe smiled. "Yes. But more than that, Kinney doesn't hold their ideals. More to the point, he doesn't hold any ideals but his own. Anyway, I'm guessing your friend Marcus witnessed the murder."
"Yes…" Harriet said.
Professor Howe sighed. "Thought as much. He's got a rough road ahead of him, I'm afraid. So, how did you know it was Kinney? I'm assuming he was disguised."
"Well, yes, he was disguised as an Auror. Called himself Joshua Daniels. Anyway… he told Karkaroff he was going to take him to see the Minister. Then just as they got to the edge of the woods, he turned and looked at me. And his face just… changed. Like it just changed shape right in front of me to Kinney's and I called out, and Marcus ran after him, there was this green flash and I think I heard Kinney disapparate and Marcus was freaking out and we just… I don't know… it all happened so fast…"
"Hmmm…" Professor Howe said, pacing a little thinking. "That's a new variable we hadn't accounted for, which explains a great deal."
"What's that?" Harriet asked.
"By the sound of it, we have ourselves a metamorphmagus."
"A what?"
"A Metamorphmagus. They are extremely rare, witches and wizards who can change their appearance at will."
"Like a Shapeshifter?" Harriet asked, confused.
"No," Sherrod said. "Metamorphagus can't change species, just appearance. Like Kinney, changing physical aspects at will. That explains a great deal… Dawlish is a buffoon to be sure, but I knew Kinney's disappearance before was too easy…"
Professor Howe pulled out a pipe and lit it, puffing on it deep in thought.
"So… if it wasn't Kinney… who do you think conjured the Dark Mark then?"
"I cannot say, yet," Professor Howe said. "Not enough data. I assume whoever conjured it also disapparated immediately after?"
"Well, I don't know," Harriet said. "Now you mention it, I heard the crack of Kinney disapparating after he killed Karkaroff, but I don't remember hearing it after the Dark Mark was cast…"
"I see…" Professor Howe puffed on the pipe a few more times.
"But…" Harriet went on when Professor Howe didn't say anything more. "But when the Ministry showed up… they fired spells into the place where the mark had been cast… but the only person they found was Mr Crouch's house-elf."
Professor Howe's eyebrows raised. "Winky? Now that is interesting…"
"She said she was trying to get away because she was scared… like when we saw her earlier and she could barely run but kept talking about people in the air and getting out of the way. We were sitting by her in the top-box, she told us how she's afraid of heights."
"Hmmmm… that does hold, yes… but… how that puts her at the scene…?"
Professor Howe puffed on the pipe a few more times. "And that's all that you can recall? You saw Winky in the woods, fleeing, then you ran into Karkaroff… what was Karkaroff up to? It's not exactly his forte to look out for anyone but himself?"
"Well, he said he was going to lead us to safety but… he kept looking back at the clearing and then at me… we were just about ready to ditch him when we ran into Ludo Bagman."
"Ahhh yes," Professor Howe said nodding. "Figured he was up to something."
"What?" Harriet asked.
"Probably paying off some goblins. Ludo has a bit of a gambling problem and wouldn't want people knowing that. What happened after you ran into Ludo?"
"Well, he left, and right after that Kinney showed up. He said he was looking for Mr Bagman."
"Hmmmmm… looks like Ludo had a lucky escape then…"
Professor Howe said with dark amusement. "He always was a slippery one, if only by accident."
"Sir?"
"Nothing, Harriet," Professor Howe said. "Nothing relevant to this discussion anyway. So Kinney was after Bagman, eh? Yes, that would have been a nasty blow… a beloved former Quidditch player murdered at the World Cup." Professor Howe snorted. "Oh I bet Kinney's furious."
"Furious?" Harriet asked. "Why?"
"Because no one's going to believe it was him," Professor Howe replied and gave a little wave at the place where the Dark Mark had been. "Everyone's going to want to pin this on the Death Eaters. Kinney may have thought he was getting even more bang for his buck in killing Karkaroff instead—you see, Karkaroff was both foreign and very important wizard—killing him here will cause massive ripples in the relations between Ministry governments. Yes… under any other circumstances it was a brilliant move. However… Harriet. You recall seeing him after the bombing, last summer?"
"Yes sir," Harriet said, wondering how she could ever forget.
"Kinney wants credit for his work. That's why he revealed himself to you. I'm sure that's why he didn't kill you instead."
Harriet felt a pang in her stomach at these words. Another instance she had come within an inch of death.
"You were more valuable to him as a witness than a victim," Professor Howe pressed on. "I know you don't like it, but you have to admit that there are times when being as famous as you are comes in handy. Between the rioting Death Eaters and the Dark Mark appearing in the sky and Karkaroff's own past… everyone is going to want to pin this on the Death Eaters, not Kinney."
Harriet was starting to feel a bit dizzy from everything that had been happening. It also occurred to her that she had barely slept.
Professor Howe gave her a kindly look. "Thank you, Harriet, this was most helpful. Now if I'm not mistaken, I'm about to turn back into myself. Hurry along to the Weasleys. As for me, I have an engagement with a vampire I must get to."
"Yes sir," Harriet said. "Wait, you know about—"
Harriet didn't get to say another word. Professor Howe simply smiled, and spun on the spot, swinging his wand wide and vanishing with a loud crack. Harriet sighed and turned back towards the group. By the looks of it, only Daniel had remained. Everyone else must have gone back to the tents.
Daniel didn't say anything as she reached him. He simply gave her a rather forced smile. Harriet mulled over everything Sherrod had said. She was starting to wonder why she wasn't more scared. She'd apparently come close to dying again. And it hadn't even been her talents that saved her, like her patronus, or her wits and friends, as with the trials her first year, or her bravery in defeating the basilisk and Riddle during her second year. It wasn't even her mother's protection.
No, it was mere chance. Kinney could have easily picked her. And if he had picked her, then he could have just as easily killed all her friends too when they tried to stop him. Harriet shivered. She hadn't been scared before, but now as she thought about it, she was scared.
She trembled a bit and Daniel put his hand on her shoulder again. She looked up at him and managed to smile. Daniel had done so much to be there for her since they had met last year. His hand on her shoulder was so calming, how she'd always imagined a real parent's would feel. However, as they reached the tent, Harriet couldn't help but glance at her other side, and fight off a tiny, childish wish that there was someone else standing there with their hand on her shoulder too.
