"Quicquid servatur, cupimus magis: ipsaque furem cura vocat.- We covet what is guarded; the very care invokes the thief." (Ovid, Amorum III, 4,25)
Monday morning was grey, cold and rainy. However, breakfast in the great hall was noisier than usual. Students shared stories about their exploits over the weekend, while a steady stream of family owls dropped in to deliver mail and parcels with treats and greetings from home.
Eleanor found her place next to Pomona Sprout and wavered between the choices of the day: hot salted porridge, smoked kippers and blood pudding. "Go on," Lana Piotrofski encouraged her from across the table. "Try the blood pudding, it's very good, and you do look a bit pale, dear." Eleanor swallowed. Why couldn't they just serve some scrambled eggs, pancakes and bacon? Blood pudding or kipper should be something you encountered if you were brave enough to eat Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, but it should not be a legitimate choice of breakfast food.
She looked around and found that everyone was eating enthusiastically, with the exception of Severus Snape who surveyed the platters and bowls of food with an expression not unlike her own. He seemed to have resigned himself to drinking tea and munching on some dry toast and looked even more disgusted with life than his usual cheerful self.
Eleanor shook her head and finally speared two smoked kippers. "So who pissed off the house elves?" she asked Pomona to her left. The herbology professor grinned and swallowed. "Well, it's not a continental breakfast, but I promise you, by the time the third lesson in greenhouse five rolls around, I'm always grateful for a good foundation." She cut off a large chunk of blood pudding and waved her fork in Eleanor's direction. "So how did you do over the weekend? I thought you were rather unsettled about the news regarding the bookstore on Saturday."
Eleanor filleted the first kipper ordering her thoughts. The raid and the auror operation would probably appear in the morning edition of the Daily Prophet, which had not arrived yet. However, by noon the owls would have made their deliveries. She decided to stay with the facts, but kept her story as condensed as possible.
"Well, there was a raid on the Oswalds that night. The reporter really shouldn't have put their names in the paper. I got there on time, thanks to your warning, got my father's friends out and managed to alert some aurors, but I don't know what the outcome was, yet. Should be interesting to read the Daily Prophet today." Professor Sprout looked at her wide-eyed. "You were in the middle of a Death Eater raid? Great Merlin!"
Eleanor shook her head and tried to make light of her experience. "I got out as quickly as I could. Nothing like getting hit by an unforgivable to mess up your weekend, you know. I just wanted to keep Mr. and Mrs. Oswald safe." Pomona picked up her tea mug. "You should really talk to Dumbledore about this, you know?"
Eleanor finished the second kipper. "Well, I may have some time this afternoon, but this morning my schedule is too busy. Matter of fact, I'll better get going soon. I still need to set up the classroom for 'Using Public Transport in the Muggle World' for the third years." She drank the rest of her tea and made her exit.
The morning passed quickly and Eleanor was surprised when the bell rang for lunch and she was able to dismiss her last class. Her stomach growled while she followed a group of her Hufflepuff students down the corridors to the great hall. As she approached the high table, hoping for more appetizing food, Minerva McGonagal, who was seated next to Professor Dumbledore, waved to her and she stepped over to the head of Gryffindor house. The professor handed her the front page of the Daily Prophet. Dumbledore watched her intently as she unfolded the newspaper.
"Death Eaters Arrested by Aurors after Raid on Muggles in Croydon," read the main headline. Underneath a photo showed a group of three unmasked wizards and witches in black robes, squirming in the grip of uniformed aurors and snarling silently at their captors. "Can I borrow this for a few minutes?" she asked Minerva. The elderly witch released the paper. "Of course, my dear. Albus and I would like to talk with you after lunch, if you have a few minutes."
She suppressed a sigh. After all, the request had not been unexpected. "Thanks," she said, returned to her seat and propped the newspaper against a bowl of mashed potatoes while she read.
"An anonymous tip-off that was received at the Ministry on Saturday afternoon alerted aurors to a raid on a muggle residence later that evening, which they were able to successfully prevent. Three perpetrators were overpowered and placed under arrest, while several other Death Eaters were able to escape. The operation has provided a significant breakthrough in the case of the vandalization of the Four Elements bookstore and the murder of a muggle security guard in London on Friday night.
The muggles threatened by the latest raid were Mr. and Mrs. Oswald, previous owners of the bookstore. Sources at the Ministry of Magic have informed us that the apprehended Death Eaters are being questioned as to the identity and whereabouts of their accomplices and the motive for their criminal activities. The identities of the arrested wizards and witches have been confirmed as Salomon Lestrange, Antares Gremming-Black and Sidonia Merriwether, So far no details of the interrogations have been released, but it seems that there are some unforeseen difficulties in obtaining information. We will report further as new insights into the case become available."
Eleanor stabbed at some green beans and cursed under her breath. George Lepidus was still at large. Then she re-read the article. 'Difficulties in obtaining information…' She thought she recognized Lucius' handwriting in that. She would be surprised if the aurors ended up getting much useful information out of the captives. It would take more than a botched raid to nail a slippery tactician like the head of the Malfoy clan. She wondered what steps he had taken to protect his identity and that of his escaped associates. Whatever he'd done, it had probably been expensive.
Eventually most of the teachers had finished lunch, and she rolled up the newspaper and joined the headmaster and Minerva. Dumbledore quickly wrapped an éclair into a serviette, put it in one of the deep pockets of his robe for later consumption and lead the way to a small reception room not far off from the dining hall. They settled down and Eleanor laid the Daily Prophet on the table between them. "I assume you alerted the aurors?" Dumbledore asked.
She nodded. "Professor Sprout showed me the newspaper article about the bookstore incident that mentioned Mr. Oswald on Saturday during lunch. So I managed to locate the Oswald home and sent a message to the aurors. It seemed like a logical next step that the Death Eaters would go after my father's business partner if they hadn't found the homunculus at the store. I got the Oswalds out and sent them to the next muggle police station. It seems that the aurors got to the place in time."
She stopped herself. She would not talk about what she had witnessed and divulge information that could implicate Lucius. "Did you see the raid?" asked Minerva. Eleanor paused. "Yes, I was present during part of the raid, but I made myself invisible and left shortly after the aurors started to engage the Death Eaters." she said. "All I wanted was to protect my father's friends. I did not want to get in the way of a bunch of dark wizards and some highly trained aurors."
Dumbledore pondered that, and while he didn't challenge her statement, he seemed rather thoughtful. "Did you recognize any of the wizards," he asked. "Everyone was masked," she said, evading him. "I heard the voice of a woman. She called out in warning when the aurors came. And one man was called Lepidus. I would think he's identical to the wizard who was suspected of leading the raid in Cologne."
The headmaster sighed and cast a sidelong glance at Minerva. Then he addressed Eleanor again. "You know, this hasn't been made public yet, but the three prisoners have been obliviated quite thoroughly. I doubt we will get much information from them." She thought quickly. "Do the aurors know how this might have happened?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "There are some theories. One of the escapees could have done it as a last act when they saw that there were prisoners. The three could have obliviated each other, but the aurors examined their wands. There were no records of obliviation spells. As you know, self-obliviation is not possible. The scariest theory would entail that there are Death Eaters inside the Ministry and the corps of aurors. It's not entirely impossible that someone with authorized access to the prisoners obliviated them before they were interrogated last night. There was a delay in the interrogation to begin with, as the Ministry's supplies of veritaserum were depleted. It's not clear why they had not been replaced before. Some paperwork seems to be missing."
Eleanor stared at the wizard. "It seems that a lot of people have inside contacts among the Ministry," she said darkly. Dumbledore's blue eyes pierced her from behind his half-moon spectacles. "Well, you can see, every morsel of additional information would help us at this point." She met his gaze. "I have told you all I can," she said truthfully. "I think if the aurors manage to catch Lepidus, they will find out who is behind the attacks." Then she decided to change the direction of the conversation. "I would like to do some more research into my father's old bookstore, professor. I checked Gringotts yesterday. The homunculus is definitely not in our family vault. The store is the last place that is left, if Falco's creation went to England with my father at all."
The headmaster exchanged a quick glance with Minerva. "I think that would be a reasonable proposal. Do you suggest any particular course of action?" Eleanor hesitated. "I have a few leads, but everything is still quite vague at the moment. I would like to do some more research, and I might have to go to London some time this week. An introduction to Lisaberta Moffett might help, so she'll let me look around the place." Dumbledore nodded and got up. "That can certainly be arranged. I am sure she would be quite happy to assist us. Please let me know of your progress, professor."
Back in her rooms Eleanor took a deep breath and sat down in front of her fireplace. She had had a pretty narrow escape, and she wasn't sure that she had convinced the headmaster that she had revealed everything about the raid on the Oswalds. While she would have loved to get in touch with Lucius, she didn't dare owl him, and as he still had her portkey, apparating was out of the question. Lucius' loss of his barn owl showed clearly that Lepidus was paying close attention. And Dumbledore certainly suspected the head of the Malfoys. She was sure that his contacts at the Ministry would be listening to him, no matter that the captured Death Eaters were now unable to implicate her lover. Probably he was under secret surveillance by aurors as well. Even an apparition might be unwise, portkey or not. For now she was on her own.
She thought for a moment. In the evening she had a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw for detention, but she had time to spend a few hours in the library during the afternoon and do some research on the mysterious obscuroom and the skills of Signore Aurelio. She put some food out for Isis, then picked up her quill, ink pot and some parchment and set out for the school library.
Very soon she found that knowledge about obscurooms was – well, obscure. Some of the standard magical dictionaries did not even mention the term, and it took her quite a while to finally unearth a reference to some 16th century Italian folios that dealt with the phenomenon. She battled with garbled Latin and old-fashioned Italian for a few hours and found that the obscuroom, or sala oscura as the authors called it, had been invented centuries ago by a master builder in Pisa.
The obscuroom was a secret chamber that would sit hidden in the perfectly normal layout of a building, until a wizard or witch spoke just the right incantation or password. Then it would briefly open to permit access and hide again. It was undetectable and did leave no traces. Muggle science fiction books would have probably described it as existing along another dimensional continuum. The texts she had found were florid in their description of the obscuroom's amazing magical properties, but she found virtually no practical advice on how to locate or open one.
When she realized she needed to break for dinner and detention she saw that her research had not yielded much in the way of results. She had some general ideas on how to approach the secret of her father's old bookstore, but was by no means convinced that she could access the hidden room. She would need more time for research. Perhaps she should try another approach, locate information about Signore Aurelio and talk to him.
By the time the weekend had approached, Eleanor felt finally ready to pay a visit to Mrs. Moffett. She found herself waking in bed on Saturday morning with Isis curled up in the crook of her right arm and took a few moments to think back on her exploits during the previous days. Her research on the obscuroom had not progressed much. However, her inquiries regarding her father's contract had been more successful.
Architectus Aurelio had died a few years ago. His assistant, however, had been quite ready to help her during a conversation she had had with him in the fireplace of his office in Verona using the floo network. He did not know the exact passwords that his master had given to Wilhelm Sartorius, as this information was always kept strictly between the architectus and the customer, but he suggested several spells that usually helped in locating an obscuroom, and even a recipe for an incense mixture that she should use.
Eleanor had used her free time during the rest of the week to work with an interested Severus Snape on the rather complex incense, practice the obscuroom spellwork and ask Dumbledore to contact Mrs. Moffett. She had not heard at all from Lucius Malfoy, and had taken his continued silence as a sign that she could not compromise either of them by trying to contact him. The Daily Prophet had not reported on any developments regarding the Death Eater arrest, and the escaped black wizards seemed to lie low for the time being. No other raids had happened.
Finally Eleanor kicked off her blankets, dressed in unobtrusive muggle clothing and made her way to breakfast. Out of politeness she asked Severus Snape, who shared the table with her, if he wanted to accompany her on her mission, but was actually relieved when he turned her down. It seemed that an excursion to muggle London did not register highly on his list of favorite weekend exploits.
Of course he never displayed any preferences to the students, but she suspected that should he ever sit down for a drink and a chat with Lucius Malfoy regarding their opinion about muggles and muggle-borns they would probably get on like a house on fire. She promised to let him know about the results of her search for the obscuroom and the merit of the incense he had helped her mix and took her leave.
At mid-morning the school seemed quite empty. As usual students had either elected to sleep in or had already made their way into Hogsmeade. More unlucky candidates were huddled in the library, catching up on their homework. So she fairly jumped out of her skin, when she suddenly felt herself poked in the back with a vicious-looking Scottish claymore wielded by an evilly grinning Peeves.
"Hey," she called and lifted her wand in defense. The poltergeist blew her a raspberry and started a mock fight with a suit of armor that was displayed further down the corridor, causing a horrid racket in the process. She shook her head and hurried on to escape the din, when she caught a glimpse of Mr. Filch, the janitor. Surprisingly he stared fixedly at an unmarked piece of wall instead of investigating Peeves' latest disturbance.
She walked up to him and told him about her run-in with the ghost, but he barely acknowledged her, promising absentmindedly that he'd take a look, while still staring into empty space. Eleanor shrugged her shoulders. Filch was an odd man at the best of times. His one redeeming characteristic seemed to be his devotion to his cat. She cast one last glance at the shabbily dressed gaunt figure, heard the noises of Peeves' battle fade away and walked on.
She was still musing about the janitor's strange behavior, otherwise she might have noticed a tall black-clad shadow that quickly ducked back into a hidden stairwell to her side that connected the sunlit levels of the castle with the dungeons. The robed figure uttered a soft hiss and stared after her with a curious expression on his pale face.
Back in her rooms she gathered a few belongings into a bag, shrugged into her wool coat and picked up a smooth pebble from her desk that normally served as a paperweight. She lifted her wand and enchanted the stone as a portkey. A few seconds later she found herself behind a few rubbish containers behind the Coal Hole pub in the Strand. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed her apparition, but apart from a few sparrows fighting over a piece of bread, she was alone. She cautiously opened a fire door, entered the back of the pub, sniffed the stale, smoke-laced air and made her way though the small groups of early patrons who had decided to start their weekends with a glass of draught.
The Strand was already very busy. Shoppers crowded the pavement, and buses and taxies jostled for space in the slow traffic. She joined the throngs of people and walked in the direction of St. Paul's cathedral until she finally reached a narrow dusty shop front that was set back from the glitzy chain stores and restaurants. It had the typical aura of a wizarding establishment, easy to overlook and so run-down and dingy as to be completely unappealing to any passing muggles.
The nearly blind front window with faded gold lettering revealed a meager display of battered books, some tarot decks and a few crystals and pendulums. She pulled on a squeaky wood door that might have been painted blue once and heard a soft chime of bells announce her entry. A small round woman garbed in swirling, multicolored velvet appeared out of the dark depths of the store and greeted her.
Eleanor introduced herself to Lisaberta Moffett, who seemed genuinely pleased to see her. She had received the owl with Dumbledore's letter of introduction and was only too happy to show her around after she had locked the door and hung up piece of parchment announcing that the store was closed until noon for repairs. She called into the back and moments later a very pale, skinny young wizard joined them. "My son, Theodore Moffett," she said. "Theo, I'm closing for a little while. You can use magic when you tidy up for now. We should be safe from any muggles walking in."
As Eleanor looked around she could still see some of the traces of the Death Eater raid on the bookstore. It seemed the attackers had used some pretty vicious blasting spells, just for the heck of it and wreaked quite a bit of havoc in the small cramped shop.
Young Moffett pulled out his wand and levitated books from piles on the floor back into some burned and chipped looking shelves. Meanwhile Mrs. Moffett turned back to her visitor. "I heard from the headmaster that you would need to examine the store, because it is likely that your father hid a magical item on the premises. Professor Dumbledore told me that the burglars the other day were looking for the same thing. Can I help at all?"
"Certainly," smiled Eleanor. "If you could show me around the whole store and any other rooms, that would help. Also, if you have ever noticed any inconsistencies in the layout of the place, walls, that don't connect right, spaces that should be larger or smaller, I'd be interested to know." Mrs. Moffett raised an eyebrow. "Spatial inconsistencies, well, I'd never," she murmured and proceeded to show her visitor through the sales area, a chaotic storage room and a small tea kitchen.
The ground floor seemed normal, apart from the raid damage, and the older witch next led the way up a small rickety staircase to the second floor, which contained more shelving space for books, a sitting room with scorch marks on the furniture and an office which still looked as if a small bomb had gone off in the middle of it. Eleanor surveyed the scene of destruction and found she suddenly felt lightheaded and a bit queasy. There was an odd pull at her stomach as she contemplated a vivid image of an irate Lucius Malfoy hurling a curse into a filing cabinet stuffed full of last year's accounting sheets.
Mrs. Moffett interrupted her musings. "Above this is the garret. There are some old trunks in it and my sister has stored half her household there since her divorce last year. It's not very tidy, I'm afraid, and the Death Eaters took quite a swipe at it. Even punched holes in the roof with their curses. I had to put some spells on, to keep the rain out. We'll have some roofers come in next week and fix it up properly."
She turned towards Eleanor, who hesitated. "I think I would like to magically examine the ground floor and this floor first, if you don't mind. If I don't find anything, we can do the attic afterwards. I will need to cast some spells and burn some incense, if that's okay." The shopkeeper nodded. "That's fine, but I'd really like to know what we are looking for."
Eleanor dug in her bag for the pouch of incense she had brought along. "My father had a skilled Italian architectus magicus put an obscuroom, a secret compartment, into this house," she said. "If I find it, I should be able to also retrieve the magical item I am looking for." While she explained she set up a small brass incense burner and lit a coal tablet with her wand. Next she sprinkled a pinch of Severus' concoction on the burner and prayed that the stuff would not smell of sulfur or burned hair or worse. Fortunately the thick swathes of smoke that emerged almost immediately reminded her of fresh-baked gingerbread.
She positioned herself facing the burner, lifted her wand and intoned the spells that Signore Aurelio's apprentice had given to her. Soon the smoke condensed into a thick wisp that reminded her somewhat of a squid's tentacle. It wavered back and forth as if searching for something and lengthened. The tip of it purposefully snaked along the walls and doorways and she realized she had to follow it as it moved further away from the burner. She quickly added some more of the incense and then let the smoke guide her down the stairs, round the shop and back up into every one of the rooms. She thought she saw some curling and quivering when the tentacle poked into the small office, but she could not observe any of the more dramatic effects that the wizard in Verona had described to her.
Finally the glowing coal had consumed the incense mix and the last of the smoke evaporated. Eleanor lowered her wand. "Nothing," she murmured disappointedly. Lisaberta Moffett pulled down a ladder that allowed access to the attic. She watched as Eleanor climbed up with her wand, the burner and a fresh supply of incense and repeated her incantation.
Again the smoke tendril did not indicate any traces of the obscuroom. As a last resort Eleanor used every one of the other spells that she knew about that might reveal hidden doorways, but while she eventually managed to vanish two floorboards that had been enchanted previously for woodworm damage, the secret room stayed hidden. Blushing with embarrassment she gave up, restored the missing floorboards and put her wand away.
"I'm afraid Signore Aurelio's craftsmanship is beyond me," she told Mrs. Moffett. "This is quite disappointing. I am sorry I took so much of your time." The older witch dismissed her excuse. "That's quite all right, my dear. I was quite happy to help, and I hope that they catch the other Death Eaters, too, so I can sue for damages. You know, I am having quite a bit of trouble with my Accidental Magical Mischief Insurance. They said they wouldn't cover the roof repairs at all."
She sighed. "Well, give my regards to Headmaster Dumbledore. If I can do anything else, just let me know. We are open from 9 to 6 except on Mondays, so just come by." Eleanor put a cooling spell on the incense burner, stowed her utensils back in her bag and followed Mrs. Moffett who accompanied her to the store entrance and unlocked the door to let her out. They shook hands and Eleanor found herself back among the crowds on the street.
She was very disappointed with her lack of success, but comforted herself with the fact that even an architectus apprentice had not been able to crack the secret of this particular obscuroom. She estimated that the chances of one of the Death Eaters succeeding where Signore Aurelio's assistant had failed were pretty slim. On top of it, no one with the exception of a few teachers and Mrs. Moffett knew about the secret compartment to begin with.
She began to entertain the thought that the homunculus might well remain hidden forever. At that thought some briskness returned to her step and she decided she would find a place to have lunch and then use the rest of the day to visit the Oswalds. After all, it was not inconceivable that either Marvin or Patsy knew something about the obscuroom.
It was past nightfall when she finally reapparated in her rooms at Hogwarts. Her visit in Croydon had been very enjoyable and she wished she had sought out her father's old friends before. She was also relieved to run into two undercover auror guards that the Ministry had installed at the isolated house to keep an eye on the Oswalds.
They challenged her as she approached the property, and after she had identified herself they reassured her that no suspicious activity had taken place after the raiders had been beaten back and arrested. The elderly couple seemed none the worse for their experience and enjoyed telling her stories about their acquaintance with her parents. Unfortunately neither of them had ever heard about any hidden spaces in the old bookstore. It seemed her father had been a much more secretive wizard than she had imagined.
Now back in the warmth of her study Eleanor shrugged off her coat, stowed her incense burner and was just about to set her portkey back on her desk when she froze. She distinctly recalled leaving the documents pertaining to the obscuroom on her blotter, but now they were gone.
Her first instinct let her examine the floor around the desk, assuming that Isis or a freak draft had swiped them off, but they seemed to have vanished. Her heart started racing. No one had access to her rooms that were warded as a matter of school security protocol. Only house-elves could come and go, and the headmaster and heads of the houses could override the spells if necessary. Yet, someone had to have been in her study and removed the map, Signore Aurelio's letter and the rental agreement. There was nothing to be done now, she had to alert Dumbledore.
Taking care to leave everything precisely as she had found it, she locked her rooms behind her and ran down the echoing hallways until she reached the spiral staircase that led up to the headmaster's office. She spoke the password and impatiently tapped her foot as the stairs slowly carried her up until she found herself in the presence of the many portraits of Hogwarts headmasters.
Some of the old wizards and witches were already asleep in her frames and barely blinked at her entrance. Fawkes had his head stuck under his wing and seemed to be twitching his tail-feathers in a dream. The office was otherwise empty and she was almost prepared to back out again, when a narrow door opened and Dumbledore walked in wearing a dark violet housecoat and slippers.
"Eleanor," he said. "It's rather late my dear." She interrupted him. "I know, Albus, and I apologize, but I believe my rooms have been burgled. I had documents about my father's shop. They are gone." She now had the headmaster's full attention. "Have a seat," he invited her. "Tell me exactly what happened."
She felt vexed and impatient at the delay, but she bit her lip and gave him a terse narrative that mentioned the Gringotts documents, the obscuroom, her failed attempts at locating the secret compartment and the disappearance of her father's papers." Dumbledore listened attentively. As soon as she was finished he got up with surprising speed and called a house-elf.
"Go and fetch Professor McGonagal, please and tell her to go to Professor Sartorius' chambers. Also go and alert Mr. Filch and ask him to join us." The little magical creature zipped off and Dumbledore led her out of the headmaster's office and walked beside her at a brisk pace as they made their way back to her rooms.
As soon as they arrived, the headmaster pulled out his wand and started to incant spells to reveal and examine the wards on her door. Blue glow marked the lines of magical power that protected access, and after a few minutes Dumbledore shook his head. "No one broke in here. If anyone got in and removed the documents, they were authorized to enter." Eleanor shook her head. "That leaves the house-elves, or a head of house. Why would they want to take the documents?"
Quick steps down the hallway made her look up and she saw Minerva approach, followed shortly after by Argus Filch who carried a small lantern. They all entered her chambers and she pulled up some additional chairs. Dumbledore explained the situation. "That leaves only the people who have legitimate access to the room," he finished. "Meaning myself, you, Minerva, and the other heads of house, the house-elves, and, of course, you, Argus as the janitor."
Suddenly Dumbledore stood up and approached the door again. "Aspecto entratam!" he commanded in a resounding voice and Eleanor gasped as she saw the wards flare up in almost painful brightness. Next she noted a spectral version of herself leave the door. Her double wore the clothes she had put on earlier that morning. After her a faintly transparent Murry entered the door. She remembered that her bed had been made when she had returned from breakfast. And there she was, coming back from the great hall. She had left Hogwarts using her portkey after that.
Suddenly another figure materialized. It was Argus Filch. He walked through the door and back out almost immediately afterwards and she thought she saw something white in his hand. She swept around to the janitor, who looked slack-jawed at his doppelganger.
Dumbledore lowered his wand. "Argus," he asked, his voice surprisingly gentle. "Can you explain yourself?" Filch swallowed, croaked and cleared his throat. "N-no, headmaster," he gritted out. "I – I don't even remember going into the professor's rooms. I can't remember…" Dumbledore turned his full attention on the janitor. "I am sorry, Argus, I need to do this. I promise it won't hurt."
He stretched out his hand towards the man standing before him. "Legilimens," he incanted and closed his eyes. Filch's face lost all expression, but seconds later Dumbledore lowered his arm. "Obliviated," he sighed.
Eleanor nodded, remembering suddenly how she had wondered about the janitor's odd behavior when she had told him about Peeves. "I saw you this morning," she said to Filch. "I was trying to tell you that the poltergeist was up to his usual mischief, actually poked me with a claymore, but you seemed out of it. You were staring off into space and barely acknowledged me. Do you remember that?"
Filch shook his head miserably. "I didn't even know we met today." The headmaster clasped his hands. "Well, we know at least that foul play is involved. There is only one other avenue of investigation that I have. Eleanor, as you are the injured party, you should cast the detection spell. It is normally more successful that way. I believe someone used an imperius on Mr. Filch. Your observation seems consistent with that."
She got up and unsheathed her wand. As she positioned herself opposite Filch, Dumbledore placed a calming hand on the man's shoulder. "Detego imperium!" she called, and saw a pale green glow settle around the janitor. It flowed outwards and revealed a tall, gaunt translucent figure in Death Eater robes.
The image of the wizard showed that while he hadn't been masked he had pulled the hood of his cloak over his face. It was impossible to say who he was. She found herself tremble as the manifestation slowly faded. 'Please don't let it be Lucius,' she pleaded in her thoughts. 'Oh, Hecate, please!' Then, for a brief moment the dark wizard faced her. She gave a small squeak of surprised dismay, but then lowered her wand. It was not him, not Lucius. She suddenly felt quite weak in her knees and ashamed as she realized that she still had a hard time trusting her lover. She had half expected to look into the pale, proud face of the head of the Malfoys.
Minerva broke her train of thoughts as she sat forwards and peered at the dissolving form of the Death Eater. "I recognize the man," she said. "The manifestation was quite clear. That is George Lepidus." The headmaster let go of Filch's shoulder. "Are you sure?" he asked. The head of Gryffindor stood up, resolve in her face. "Without a doubt. We need to move."
Two hours later Eleanor felt thoroughly exhausted as she leaned in a corner of her crowded study. Aurors had been called in and she had been asked to perform the imperius detection twice more for witnesses. At the end of it Filch was a sobbing wreck apologizing to anyone who would listen, and stating again and again how sorry he was. Eventually Dumbledore took him aside and dismissed him. Aurors had dispersed throughout the castle and the grounds in order to search for Lepidus, but had come up empty. A warrant for his arrest was released promptly.
An Unspeakable who was dripping with arrogance and suspicion had questioned her for about an hour and she had had a hard time to keep her wits together and her story straight. When he finally released her, she took a deep breath and busied herself with directing the house elves to provide tea and biscuits for the Ministry officials who seemed to regard her study their new headquarters for now. At least she had been successful in her narrative. Without open lies and just by artistry of omission the name of Lucius Malfoy, respected member of the board of governors of Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardry, member of the Committee for the Disposal of Magical Creatures and independent consultant to the Ministry of Magic, hadn't even been mentioned once.
Numbly she listened to aurors tramping through her chambers, flooing in and out of the fire and covering the floor with soot, floo powder and mud from the school grounds. Albus Dumbledore seemed unperturbed as he lounged in her easy chair by the fire and consulted with the aurors and the Unspeakable. She walked over to her desk, where a Ministry scribe had piled parchments and protocols and suddenly remembered the missing documents. Triple Goddess!
"Hey!" she called at the top of her lungs. The babble of voices was cut off. Someone flopped out of the fireplace with a thud and a smoke-induced cough. Everyone was looking at her, including the Unspeakable. "Lepidus has the obscuroom information. Is anyone actually checking up on the Four Elements bookstore?" She heard a ragged-looking auror swear, and then the room exploded.
The Unspeakable hollered orders and she squeezed her way through to him. "I'm coming with you," she declared. "The homunculus belongs to my family. I will be able to detect its whereabouts." She knew she might well be bluffing, but there was no way she would give up control of the situation. The Ministry official looked at her and compressed his lips. "Fine," he declared. "Try to stay out of our way. Here," he called over one of the aurors. "Take care of Professor Sartorius. She'll be going with you."
In the next second someone had pushed a fistful of floo powder into her hand and she bent into her fireplace staring at the swirling green robes of a disappearing auror. She barely had time to pronounce her destination when she already came tumbling out of the small fire in the sitting room at the Four Elements kicking an auror who had arrived just before her in the ribs and having a small female auror land right on top of her seconds later, just as she had started to apologize.
Eventually they sorted out the tangled heap of legs, wands and robes and cautiously advanced to join a small group of Ministry employees who were already busy securing the premises. It was dark aside from the deep-sea glow of lit wand tips. Everyone talked in rushed whispers, but she felt that the aurors seemed reasonably organized and sure of their work. She trailed behind following the short witch who had arrived right behind her out into the second floor corridor only to find her attention arrested by a patch of deeper black next to the entrance to the small office.
She pulled out her own wand. "Lumos," she called quietly and took a surprised gasp when she saw the blackness revealed as a small doorway right next to the office. She was sure that it had not been there earlier that day, but she also remembered how the incense had curled and rippled briefly when the tip of the smoke tendril had explored the area. "Hey," she hissed at the auror before her. "I found something." The witch turned and joined her. "This has to be the obscuroom. I know it wasn't here this morning."
Carefully they peered into the newly revealed space and as Eleanor moved her wand forward she saw that the walls of the chamber seemed oddly mottled. "Lumos flammipotens," she intoned and her wand flared up.
"He's killed it," she exclaimed. "What?" asked the auror. Eleanor turned to her and ordered her thoughts. "Well, few people know much about obscurooms, but from what I have found out they are really a kind of magical being, not fully conscious, but alive somehow. Normally they hide again when someone has entered or exited them, but look at this here, it's just hanging open. It's like the walls have been burned and melted. It looks organic on the inside, and it sure smells like scorched flesh."
"Wait here," said the witch and she heard her clatter down the stars. Eleanor peered into the room, but the stench of charred matter was overpowering enough to make her gag and withdraw. In any case the obscuroom was empty. If the homunculus had been hidden here, it was now in the possession of the chief Death Eater. She asked herself how the dark wizard had been able to locate and open the secret compartment so quickly and felt even more upset with herself at having failed.
Her thoughts were cut short when suddenly the electrical lights in the store flared up and the auror in charge walked up to her. "Professor? Lepidus is gone. What have we here?" Hurriedly she explained. The auror asked someone to summon the Unspeakable from Hogwarts and looked into the obscuroom, only to cough and pull back as quickly as she had. "Hm," he mused. "Cruel and unorthodox, but effective. That would explain the burned mice and spiders downstairs." Eleanor stared at him. "What did he do?" she asked.
The auror shrugged. "Used a fire spell, if I'm not mistaken, something from the family of the incendiatus curses. I would think he made sure it only consumed living matter. We found burned vermin downstairs, but no other traces of fire. The obcuroom simply opened when it had burned to death." "Gods," she sighed. "I was here earlier today. I tried everything. The damn thing wouldn't twitch."
They were interrupted by the Unspeakable who strutted in and surveyed the situation. He thanked and dismissed the aurors who now moved from securing the crime scene to collecting evidence and then cornered her and reprimanded her for not having called on him when she had first known about the obscuroom. She decided to play along and instead of defending herself apologized profusely until he finally let her go.
When she finally returned to her room via the floo network she found that the last of the aurors were packing up. Minerva and Albus still sat by the fire place enjoying a cup of tea and made no show of leaving, so she eventually called Murry, asked him to tidy up, grabbed a mug of tea and joined them. She gave them a brief summary of what she'd seen.
The headmaster shook his head. "I'm quite disturbed to hear that the Death Eaters now have the homunculus," he said. Professor McGonagal peered over her glasses. "The homunculus is also organic. Would it not have burned as well?" she asked. Eleanor lowered her mug of tea. "I wish, but my studies indicate that the vial of a stage one homunculus is practically impervious to anything. I'm sorry."
Finally the headmaster stretched and got up. "Well, there's nothing for it now. Tonight we can't do anything more but try and get at least a bit of sleep. Perhaps the morning is wiser than the evening." He and Minerva took their leave and she was finally alone in her study. Murry peered in once more and removed the last of the teacups, and then she sank back on her bed.