"Well." Mckenzie had to take a few moments to gather her thoughts in the wake of Harri's tale. She'd heard innumerable tales about people's apparent tales and monsters they'd fought, even ones designed to be gruesome, to frighten her. But Harri's tone as she spoke about it, so matter-of-factly, and more enthusiastic than the rest of her tale, made her worry for her health even more. "That certainly was a feat. Did you tell anyone else about it?"

"No, no. It was a secret between me and Bobble." Harri said. "Just us. I didn't trust Carma and Rabbit that much anyway. And Mr. Barrowmont… I didn't feel like telling him. It would have been bad."

"Why do you believe that?" Mckenzie leaned forward.

"He was very strict about my bedtimes and my studying and my tutoring, and all of the tutors were, too. I had to be very good and I couldn't break any of the rules, or I'd be punished."

"If you're okay with sharing, what form would this punishment take?" Mckenzie asked. She had her suspicions about it already. Although she hadn't seen any physical scars on Harri, she hadn't been subject to a mediwitch's examination, and the mental effects were all too clear.

"Not being able to play with my toys, or read my books, or walk around the garden, or study the charms I wanted. Mr. Barrowmont would take away all of my charm and hex and curse books and make me read theory." Harri exhaled through her nose. "Theory is okay for learning about some things, but I like to do magic, with my wand, not just see it. And I'd be locked in my room sometimes. But not when I was a good girl."

"And when was the last time you were considered a bad girl, at the time when you were retrieving parts of Bobble?"

"I..." Harri shifted in her seat. "A few years. When I got smart enough to know that following the rules got me more good things than not following them."

"But again, you were willing to break them for Bobble's sake. Did you feel any resentment towards Mr. Barrowmont? For his lessons? Perhaps for potentially posing a problem when it came to fixing your friend?"

Harri shrugged.

"Let's continue with what happened after you found Bobble's other leg."

"Okay." Harri nodded. "I wanted to take her out with me..."


So the next time I had to go Snatching, I gave her one of my cloaks. It was long and black and wrapped her from skull to toe, with a big hood and a scarf so that you couldn't see she didn't have skin even if you looked closely. She walked about all graceful, too, like she was completely used to walking around and hadn't taken such a long break from it. I think you could say she swooped about, kind of like a Dementor, but not nearly as mean.

I Apparated to the meeting place with her right alongside me. It was by a river, lots of forest and nature all around, and the sky was spitting rain so we weren't likely to run into any Muggles. None that would have noticed us in our wizarding clothes anyway.

Carma and Rabbit were already there, hiding beneath a tree even though they could have just used an Impervius charm. That's what I did for me and Bobble, so that we wouldn't have to worry about getting wet – or it clinging to her cloak and showing off all of her bones.

"Hey." Carma narrowed her eyes at me. "Who's that?"

"This is my friend." I told her, and Bobble just stood there in her cloak. "Inferius." That put a little bit of fear in her eyes, which I didn't mean to do. I thought it was going to make them stop asking questions, and it was still true, but not that they'd be really scared. "Let's get Snatching." I said then, to let them get past it.

"You're keeping tha thting with you, aren't you? it's just that I don't want it anywhere near me," Rabbit said, as he got to his feet. "Meaning no offense, but dead things ought to stay still."

"Yeah, it's okay." I said. I thought it was a little rude to dead people, but I didn't know him well enough to say as much. We got to the Snatching right after, and Carma had a good trail that time. Bobble stayed right by me and I Apparated with her whenever we had to, and she did seem to scare the people, although they wouldn't have put up much of a fight anyway. They thought they could use a hex on her, but that didn't work, because she has no flesh, but by then they were all on the floor anyway.

It wasn't so bad when it went quickly. There wasn't much time to worry about how scared they were. And no kids, which was good, because we'd seen a lot of teenagers by then. Some of them were pretty good, but...there were three of us, and me, and they didn't stand a chance. I wondered what it would have been like to talk with them, sometimes, but there wasn't a chance to. Find, capture, take in. Simple and easy, at least, to the other two.

The Ministry people didn't take much notice of Bobble when we walked in, though she was watching them when we walked in. I think they must have known not to bother people in dark robes. Anyway, we split up and I went home and I knew that it was going to be dinner with Mr. Barrowmont that night. I had to get changed into clean clothes, and I made sure to wash Bobble, too, because she'd got some mud and grass and twigs on her feet from all the walking.

"All done!" I smiled at her when I was done and heard a bell from downstairs. "Okay, I have to have dinner with Mr. Barrowmont. Do you want me to set out some books for you?" I asked her, but she shook her head, and then stood by the door. "You want to go to dinner? You can't." And then she stared at me and I felt guilty and sighed. "Mr. Barrowmont might get mad. You can...stay outside, if you want. And you can listen in. You can't eat anyway, so it'll be just like you're there."

She seemed okay with that, so we went down the stairs. The hallway had a lot of doors, although the rooms weren't anything special, just spare rooms for dueling or books or things to use magic on, except for Mr. Barrowmont's room, which I wasn't allowed to go into. It was the one right at the end of the room, passed the dark floor and the dark walls and the dark ceilings, and I'd never dared to walk in myself.

The dining room was pretty big, with a table at the center and a polished wood floor and a candelabra hanging from the ceiling that gave it uneven lighting. There were some Lumos lanterns on the walls, which some of my tutors used for help in dueling and any spells that needed more space, but not much else for decoration. I went in first, but Bobble stood just outside the door and I sneaked a smile to her before I closed it.

Mr. Barrowmont was already at the table, sitting at the middle with some plates and bowls spread out between him and the opposite seat. That was mine, the only other one at the table, and I could pick whatever I wanted out of the bowls. It was always tasty, and had everything from greasy meat to plump veg. I didn't like eating the former very much, but Mr. Barrowmont said that I had to eat it if I wanted to grow up strong. I was already grown up by then, but he said that I needed to stay strong and that meant more meat.

"Good evening, Harrietta." Mr. Barrowmont's voice was soft like always, though a little strained. It wasn't often like that, but just looking at him I could see it. I knew how to look at someone and see where they were weakest, and he had little bags under his eyes and there wasn't as much energy to his voice. He was still groomed right, dressed properly, but you can't hide fatigue with tailoring. "How was your day?"

"It went well," I told him while I sat in my seat and started to fill my plate. "We caught the fugitives and I got paid for it. I've got enough money to buy a whole bunch of things when we go shopping next." I looked up and saw him looking at me and paused. "And some put aside for savings." Then he nodded and I smiled. It just slipped my mind sometimes 'cause I hadn't gotten into the habit of it.

"Word got back to me of your time today." Mr. Barrowmont said. He wasn't angry or even looking at me sternly, but my nerves tensed all the same. If that was true, then he had to know that I'd taken Bobble with me and I'd have to think quick of some way out of it. I might have just done as I was told, but I couldn't do that to Bobble. "Carma and Rabbit, I believe, claimed that you brought an Inferius with you. I wonder what you have to say on the matter."

"I didn't bring an actual Inferius," I said. "I don't have any bodies to make one with." My head ran through a few excuses, a way to do what I did without telling how I did what I did. "But I thought a decoy would be good, for Snatching, and the Inferius skull gave me the idea. If I trust transfigure some things to look like a person and animate it, like with statues, then it's good enough for fighting."

Mr. Barrowmont looked at me then and I didn't know what he was thinking of it, but I was worried all the same. I'd have believed it, but I wanted to. And it wasn't like he could just guess about me finding the rest of Bobble all over Britain.

"Clever," Mr. Barrowmont said. I felt a sword being lifted off of my neck. "But try not to disturb them. Rabbit is of a nervous disposition and Carma has an itchy wand. Tell me of how it went." He said, so I did. I told him all about the people we'd Snatched, and all the ones we'd Snatched before, and all of the studying I'd been doing, and he took me through a few mental tests, though he sent me off to my bedroom before we'd gone through many.

Bobble followed me up to my bedroom, walking all silent, and walked over to the drawer I'd cleared out for her newspapers. I went over and opened it for her and saw a bunch of the newspapers. Clippings had been torn out, with teeth marks on the edges, and piled up as neatly as they could have been. And with them were pages out of a journal, pictures, too.

Bobble was chattering her teeth.