Chapter XIV – Into the Future Darkly
After five when class was dismissed Harry and Ron waited near the elevators for Hermione to come from her office and the three of them went up to see Kingsley together. His secretary was already gone for the day but his door was open and he was at his desk looking over several folders full of documents.
"Have a seat." he said, "These are the reports on the first five people you captured yesterday. Luna sat in and it went fairly quickly. All five of them are less than twenty years old and seem to be pretty clueless. It turns out they were all recruited after the battle of Hogwarts by various death eaters all of whom are now dead or captured. These five just did menial tasks without being informed of any important information or about Horcruxes. Nott and Goyle didn't even know what they were stealing from the museum; they were told it was an ancient statue that had hidden spells engraved on it."
As Kingsley pushed the folders across the desk for the three of them to read for themselves, Harry asked, "What about the sixth person. He soared so he must be farther up on the death eater hierarchy chart if he knew how to do that."
"We saved him for tomorrow." answered Kingsley. "Luna can only be in one interrogation at a time and Clyde felt the younger kids would go quickly and he could get his men freed up to pursue other clues. Also any information they let slip helps Clyde plan for the interrogation of the sixth person. This older one, his name is Stephan Dragovitch by the way, was well known to the Aurors. He's Romanian and as a young man was associated with Grindelwald when he was in power. After Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, Dragovitch spent some time in prison but since he was only in his twenties and not high up in Grindelwald's organization he was eventually released. He has been back and forth between Great Britain and the continent over the years under suspicious circumstances but the Aurors could never pin a specific crime on him so they couldn't arrest him.
Clyde thinks Dragovitch is going to be a tougher nut to crack and it will take even longer to be sure we got all we could from him. Clyde wasn't sure how long Luna would stay today and didn't want to start on him if they couldn't finish. Once he knows what we are asking about it would give him a chance to go back to his cell overnight and make plans about what to say and what to avoid. That could just make things harder. Luna said her father is feeling better and she is free all day tomorrow so we will start on Dragovitch at seven in the morning so we can work on him all day if necessary.
"What about Bellatrix's Horcrux?" asked Hermione. "Chitterly said he would have another group of Aurors search the Nott house for it."
"I was getting to the bad news." said Kingsley. "All five of the interrogations today had only one important detail in common, an older foreign person whose name is unknown to the five youngsters came to the house and took the statue with him. The Horcrux is gone. The search of the house confirmed it is not there. We hope to get the name of this other foreigner from Dragovitch tomorrow. It could be the only clue we have left to follow."
"If we don't get this name," Harry said, "it means Bellatrix can come back again. As long as her Horcrux remains intact she can return and she can make another Horcrux if she wants once her body is restored. All of what we did will be wasted."
"Let's wait for the interrogation of Dragovitch before we panic." said Kingsley. Maybe we will get a name or even some other clue we can follow. In the mean time think of all the death eaters you three, Ginny, Neville, and especially Luna have eliminated in the last few weeks. Including the Americans and these five kids from last night that's over three dozen dark wizards off the streets. That's not wasted time; it's more than most Aurors do in a year.
Yes, if Bellatrix returns it will be a blow to our efforts, but why did you two want to become Aurors? Because you thought there would be no more dark wizards after Voldemort was destroyed, or was it because you knew there will always be more dark wizards? If you get discouraged because you caught three dozen but one got away you won't last long as an Auror. Aurors keep moving along; they know the one that got away today is the one we catch tomorrow, and the one that gets away tomorrow is the one we catch the next day. So go home and tomorrow at this time we may be making a start on some new clue."
After being up all last night the three of them were exhausted by the time they got back to Grimmauld Place. Ginny was her usual tired self after another long practice; so, a quick meal and early to bed was the prescription for everyone. The next morning they told Ginny what they had learned over the past two days and discussed the possibility of Bellatrix returning. They agreed that what ever else they did finding and eliminating Bellatrix would always be their top priority.
Before everyone left, Ginny reminded them that Harry's birthday was this week and she told them her parents had invited them all to have the party at the Burrow on Saturday; the whole family was going to be there. Then Ginny left for practice and the others for the ministry agreeing to meet at five and see what Luna and the interrogators had got from Dragovitch.
Five o'clock found Harry and Ron at the elevators again waiting for Hermione. When the got to Kingsley's office he was out but the secretary said he left a message that he would be right back and for them to wait. The secretary packed her things and left them sitting in the outer office. Less than five minutes later Kingsley arrived breathing hard and he took them into his office.
"I ran down to interrogation" he said, "to get the latest information and Clyde was still in with Luna and Dragovitch so I had to wait a few minutes before he came out. The other Aurors are continuing the interrogation but here's what we got so far. Luna learned Bellatrix and her friends were in Romania before they
went to America and they gathered a group of dark wizards there. They were planning to organize in several countries since they know cooperation between the magical communities in various countries is not the best. They hoped that if a cell in one country was discovered by the law enforcement people there, they would have a safe refuge in a neighboring country ready made.
He knew Bellatrix had been in Slovakia, and Bulgaria but didn't know what progress she made in gathering followers there. He didn't mention any other countries but Clyde is going to contact every country that will talk to us and alert them what to look for. We also got more than a dozen names of dark wizards Dragovitch has been in contact with all over eastern Europe. Our researchers have been following up the names he gave us and they are all former Drumstrang student as one might suspect. Several of the older ones were also former Grindelwald followers which is how Dragovitch originally knew them.
So far we haven't discovered who it was that picked up the Horcrux but they will continue to question him as long as Luna can go on. She seemed tired when I looked in and I think she will have to break for the day soon. We hoped to finish up with him in one session but Luna has been at it ten hours now and can't go much longer without rest.
That's all the news I have right now but remember what I said yesterday, don't lose hope; today we got a lot of clues for our people to follow and we will probably have more by this time tomorrow. Go home and keep up your studies, let the Aurors do their work and we will keep you updated if we find anything else. If we need your help I will ask but the most important thing you all can do is your lessons. It's important you do not get so tied up with this that you aren't preparing yourselves for the time when you will be in charge and have to make the decisions about what clues to follow.
The next day Kingsley told them a few more names had come up and the Aurors felt they had all they were going to get from Dragovitch. As far as Bellatrix's Horcrux, Dragovitch only knew that a foreign wizard with the code
name "Dagger" would come for it. Dragovitch had a description of "Dagger' including a tattoo of a dagger on the left side of his neck. When this person showed up one night Dragovitch gave him the Horcrux and "Dagger" left. Dragovitch thought "Dagger" had an eastern European accent but doesn't know anything else about him. Now it was the tedious work of following the clues to their end.
Days went by with little to report. Harry's nineteenth birthday passed and it was nice to see all the Weasleys including Bill and Fleur's new baby Victoire and Andromeda Tonks who brought Harry's godson Teddy Lupin. Then Ginny's eighteenth birthday party was held in mid August again at the Burrow and now it was September. Hermione's birthday was approaching on the nineteenth along with Ginny's first Quidditch match the following Friday night.
Harry and Ron received notes from Kingsley from time to time with the latest updates. A few of the names on Dragovitch's list were caught by the law personal in various countries and Clyde Chitterly was arranging to have them brought to London to be interrogated with Luna present. Two others had been killed when they refused to surrender and tried to fight it out with the authorities. However, no word on Bellatrix's Horcrux was included nor anything on the person who picked it up at the Nott house.
Hermione's twentieth birthday party was at her parent's house and Molly and Arthur came but the rest of the family was tied up since it was a Tuesday evening. Ginny got tickets for everyone to her first match which would be in Manchester and they all promised to be there.
Everyone met at the main gate to the Manchester Quidditch pitch and sat
together. George had pins made up with Ginny's name for everyone to wear and extras to pass out to the crowd. Hermione and Luna had a banner reading "Go Ginny" that they hung from the hand rail. The match ran over two hours and Ginny scored nine of the nineteen goals for the Harpies before their seeker caught the snitch. The Harpies won 340 to 120 but Ginny was so tired the celebration they all planed was put off until the next day.
The fall grew colder and turned to winter. Harry and Ron continued to work on their studies for class. Hermione finished training and was assisting in the writing of a new law, backed by Kingsley, governing the treatment of house elves and other magical creatures. She said it would take months to get the wording acceptable to everyone and maybe years before it passed but at least it was progress. The Harpies won four more matches in a row with Ginny being the leading scorer in every one. The only bad news was there was little progress on Bellatrix's Horcrux.
As Christmas approached the four friends often discussed what they could do if the Aurors didn't find something soon. Having no new clues they got so desperate as to start talking about going to Romania over Christmas break to search for the people on Dragovitch's list. But Ginny had a match on new year's day and since none of them spoke Romanian it would be hard to discover anything new so that idea died.
The week before Christmas a memo from Kingsley floated onto Harry's desk asking him and Ron to stop at Kingsley's office before going home. After meeting Hermione they went up and found Kingsley waiting with a smile. "We're pretty sure we got "Dagger's" name. Authorities in Bulgaria raided a house based on clues from the names Dragovitch gave us and one of the people they caught confessed to knowing a man with a dagger tattoo. He gave us a name, Vaslav Krum.
At the name Krum all three of them gasped. "Is he related to Viktor Krum the Bulgarian Quidditch player." asked Hermione.
I don't know." said Kingsley, "None of this is verified yet and Clyde is trying to get the suspect here so Luna can sit in and confirm it. In the mean time we have people searching for anything we can find on Vaslav Krum. Why do you ask about the Quidditch player?"
"Victor Krum was the Drumstrang champion in the tri-wizard tournament a few years ago. He competed against Harry and we all got to know him." said Hermione.
"You went to the Yule ball and dated him most of the year he was at Hogwarts." said Ron with an edge in his voice. "Are you still writing to him?"
"We sent each other Christmas and birthday cards for the last two years." answered Hermione, rolling her eyes. "I can send an owl and ask about Vaslav if you think it's a good idea." she added looking at Kingsley.
Kingsley considered this for a minute then said, "Let's wait till we see what the Aurors find. If they are related we don't want to alert Vaslav that we're on to him."
"I don't think Viktor is involved in anything dark." chimed in Harry. "I got to know him during the tournament. His grandfather was killed by Grindelwald and Victor told me several times when we talked that he was against the dark arts because of that. He also told me he wasn't happy with the way things were run at Drumstrang."
"Still," said Kingsley, "I think it's best to wait for the Auror's report. "It will only be a day or two then we can decide what to do about Viktor Krum. If I get
any information from the Aurors I will send you another memo."
"Send it to Ron." said Harry. "Our instructor has been glaring at me for getting so many memos from you during class. I'd like to lay low for a while if you don't mind."
Two days before Christmas, when Hermione came up in the elevator to meet Harry and Ron; Harry was about to tell her there was nothing from Kingsley again when he saw her holding a bright orange memo. "Kingsley wants to see us." she said. "Now that my training is over and I get memos all the time I guess he thought he would give both of you a break from aggravating your instructors by getting memos in class.
Kingsley was waiting for them and slid the latest report over the desk toward them saying, "Our Aurors have checked out Vaslav Krum as best they could. He is Viktor Krum's uncle but he has been shunned by the rest of the family since he went over to Grindelwald's side years ago even after Grindelwald killed his father. Information tells us Viktor's parents haven't seen or talked to Vaslav in more than forty years. Nobody in authority in Bulgaria has seen him for the last two years though he comes up in rumors from sources as having been involved with Voldemort before he disappeared. We have all our people and the Bulgarians looking for anything on him."
"Is there anything we can do?" asked Hermione. "Shall I write and ask Viktor if he knows anything?"
"If it will make you feel better," answered Kingsley, "go ahead but I don't thing you will learn anything we don't already know."
When they got back to Grimmauld Place they found Ginny in the kitchen drinking tea and waiting. "About time you three got home." she said. "An owl arrived for Hermione earlier and Kreacher brought the letter down from the owlery in the attic when he went up to take care of the owls. It's from Viktor."
When they had first moved into Grimmauld Place Harry and Ron with help from Mr. Weasley fixed up the owlery in the attic that the Black family had let fall into ruins. It allowed up to six owls at a time to nest overnight and go out to hunt on their own while blocking out the rain and cold. It was now the home for Harry's new great horned owl Merlin, Ron's tiny Scops owl Pigwidgeon, Hermione's screech owl she named Dobby after the house elf that saved their lives, and Ginny's barred owl Elvira. Kreacher turned out to be rather fond of the owls and saw that they had food and fresh water every day. Today Viktor's owl was most likely also there resting from its long flight waiting for a response to his letter.
Hermione tore the letter open and read aloud,
"Dear Hermione."
She stopped while Ron bristled and grumbled then she continued,
"British officials came to my house and the house of my
parents asking questions to do with my uncle Vaslav. You told me in your last letter that Harry and Ron were now in your ministry's Auror's office. Do they or you know what this is concerning.
My family has disowned years ago my uncle because of his support for Grindelwald and my parents are worried they are suspected of something dark because we are his family.
If there is anything you can tell me that will easy my parent's
worry please tell me. I am not wanting to see them bothered for a thing
they do not know about.
Your friend
Viktor"
"What shall I tell him? Hermione asked. "I can't say we caused this problem for his family by telling the ministry of the possible connection between him and Vaslav."
"We didn't cause it." said Harry. "The ministry or the authorities over there would have made the connection during the investigation. I say we use his letter as a way into Bulgaria. Write and tell him we want to help and are coming for a visit over the holidays. We talked about it before; let's do it."
"I can't," said Ginny "we have a match on New Year's eve."
Harry looked at Ginny and said, "I'll stay here with you, and Hermione and Ron can go to Bulgaria to talk with Viktor and his parents." Turning to Ron who didn't seem pleased about going with Hermione to see Viktor, Harry added, "Reassure them they are not under suspicion and at the same time get any information they can give you about Vaslav; likes, dislikes, habits, favorite places, anything we can use to find him."
Hermione didn't hesitate and said, "I'll send his owl back saying we will arrive two days after Christmas. That will let us celebrate with our families and give him time to make arrangements for seeing us in case his schedule is busy. I think rather than flying muggle planes we should apparate in steps through France, Italy, Albania, and into Bulgaria. It will take about the same time but it will be impossible for anyone to follow us or attack us like Bellatrix did."
Christmas passed pleasantly with friends and family and the morning after boxing day Ron and Hermione said good-by early in the morning and disapparated while holding hands with only one small trunk and an enchanted Galleon each.