Chapter 10

Graham looked at the innocent expression on her face. He was praying she didn't notice the panicked one on his. He shrugged his shoulders. "Most of us have happy places and since you've been through so much, I just figured that the days at your school before all this mess, must have been happy for you. Did I guess right?"

Lavender blushed and nodded. "Before all the mess happened is a very good description of my life," she said.

"Do you want to go back?" he asked reaching his hand out for her.

She thought about that for a moment and nodded. "Are you sure my uncle isn't harmed?" She took his hand.

"Yes, I promise. It sounds a lot worse than it is," he said, hoping his voice sounded light.

"Good," she said. "Yes, we should go back. I want to see him."

Lavender blinked and the next thing she knew she was standing outside Harry's office. She wondered if what she had just experienced was real or she had imagined it. Graham was standing next to her smiling shyly.

He looked like he wanted to ask her something but he didn't say a word until a door next to Harry's office swung opened and out came Lavender's uncle Ephraim. He was being escorted by two rather large and menacing wizards. Ephraim looked quite pale, but at least he was standing on his own two feet. He looked at Lavender with a rather dazed look and when his face turned to Graham; his eyes were filled with fear. Before he had the chance to run away or collapse on the floor, Graham said calmly, "Ephraim, you may go now. Your niece will take you home."

Ephraim's eyes shifted to Lavender and he visibly relaxed. "Thank you, Mr. Bishop." His head hung low in a submissive manner. Graham smiled at him, but he cringed slightly when he touched his shoulder.

Lavender took her uncle arm and kissed his cheek. "Are you ready to go home now?"

Ephraim looked at Graham before answering. "Yes." He started toward the door hesitantly as if he thought Graham would stop them, but he stepped aside and let them pass.

"Good-bye, Lavender. May I see you later?" Graham asked politely.

Ephraim stiffened, but Lavender didn't seem to notice. "I'd like that."

He pushed her through the hall before Lavender could say anything else.

"I'm hungry," he said, pushing her. "Let's go to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink, er, a bite to eat."

"Of course, Uncle," she said.

"Well," said Graham, "I have bunches of reports to file and bad guys to find. I'll see you later, Lavender." He quickly kissed her cheek and once again Ephraim cringed.

He watched them leave and then walked silently down the long, dark hall.

Lavender and Ephraim went into the Leaky Cauldron and took a seat. Ephraim slid into a hard wooden booth toward the back of the tavern. Lavender called a server who magicked the hundreds year old menu to their table along with a complimentary stein of mead. Ephraim gulped the drink down quickly and then reached for Lavender's.

"Uncle, are you all right?" she asked.

"Couldn't be better," he tried to smile.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. She'd never seen her uncle so nervous or frightened.

"No!" he snapped quickly. He took another huge gulp of the mead. "So, girlie," he said nervously after wiping his mouth. "How long have you known Mr. Bishop?"

She shrugged shyly. "Not long. He moved into number fourteen flat. Did you know he's partnering with Ron Weasley? You remember Ron, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know Weasley." Ephraim took another long drink and set the stein back on the table hard. "Lavender, I don't want you to see him."

"Who? Ron?" she asked confused.

"Bishop!" he yelled. "He's a very dangerous man."

"What did he do to you?"

"Nothing, nothing, girlie. I'm fine, really. He's just, uh… I don't want you to get hurt."

"Tell me what he showed you," she insisted.

"You know about that?" he asked, appalled.

"Yes, he showed me some things and explained what he was able to do. He took me to Hogwarts."

Ephraim harrumphed. "I wish I had gone to Hogwarts," he said quietly.

"Uncle, please, tell me."

He shook his head. "I can't."

"You could have been sent to Azkaban," Lavender said.

Ephraim nodded. "Or worse," he agreed. "I know what I did was wrong; but I did it for all the right reasons. You must believe that. And I never wanted to get you involved."

"What did you do?" She placed his hand over his.

Ephraim began to sob. "I'm so sorry, Lavender. Please forgive me. I hunted death eaters. I killed them; it was all for revenge. I didn't trust the Ministry to hunt them down. I wanted to kill them all, just like they killed our family. I wanted them all dead!"

"But—"

"I know. It wasn't my place to be judge, jury and executioner. I was wrong."

Lavender didn't know what to say, so she waited until Ephraim stopped sobbing. He shook his head sadly. "But now I'm going to be working with the Ministry; I've given them all the information we had on possible locations of death eaters."

"That's a good thing. Now you won't be in danger."

Ephraim nodded and then shrugged. "Yes," he said. "Everything worked out very well."

"Graham told me that you could have been sent away," Lavender said.

"Or executed."

"So Graham did a good thing. Harry didn't want you to be so severely punished."

He shuddered. "Yes, I owe Harry my life."

"And Graham," Lavender said gently.

He patted her hand and picked up the menu. "I'm starving; let's eat. What looks good?" He finally decided on the mutton sandwich while Lavender chose a hearty stew. They ate in silence and their steins were kept full of mead.

After they ate, Lavender walked him home and before he turned to leave, he took her hand. "Lavender, please listen to me. Bishop is a very dangerous man. Please stay clear of him. There's no telling what he could do to you and you not even realize it until it was too late. Promise me!"

Lavender started to reply, but she had no idea what to say to her uncle. She wasn't afraid of Graham, but the only things he'd shown her was her happiest memories. She didn't want to believe her would hurt her.

"Promise me, Lavender!" said Ephraim again. And then he was gone leaving her a whole night to think about things.