Chapter 21: Follow the Money
A part of me wanted to leave right away, but for things to work I needed to wait until it was mid-afternoon Chicago time to call. Too early and Karrin Murphy might be out to lunch, too late and she might have left for the day, and I did not want to be playing musical phones trying to get through to her, so I was stuck here in history class waiting for Binns to let us out for the day.
I slumped, head in my hands, waiting for him to finish with the 'Gringotts vs the Erlking'. I swear he's covered this very war at least ten times.
"…and on the 375th day the Erlking was forced to…" A bell sounded, signaling the end of class, and I nearly cheered when Binns said we could leave.
The Weasley Twins have something of a reputation. Admittedly that reputation is mostly for pranks, but they were also known to be able to get their hands on just about anything a bored or desperate student could possibly want. Potions, candy, Potions-dipped candy and a myriad of other odds and ends.
They weren't the only ones who sold contraband, most Houses had someone, but they were the only ones who I thought would be willing to help me get to London.
Finding the Twins wasn't the problem; it was dinnertime and there was never a Weasley that willingly missed a meal, and my cloak made it simplicity itself to slip into the Great Hall and place a note on one of the Twins unnoticed. The hard part was trying to convince my friends not to come.
"It's not that I don't want you to come, it's just that there's no need for you to," I said.
"No need?" Pansy sniffed disdainfully. "You're just scared we might get hurt."
"No, that's not it at all!" I hastened to deny, even though it was just as she said.
Pansy rolled her eyes. "Either it's safe enough for us to come, or it's too dangerous for you to go." She raised her brow curiously, "Which is it?"
I gave my wand a look, wondering if I could stun her before she knew what hit her. Before I could even seriously consider drawing my wand, Pansy had hers resting at the base of my throat.
"Don't even think about it. Either we are going with you, or you are not going." Pansy leaned in close and looked me in the eye, "Got it?"
I just blinked innocently, "Think about what?"
Before she could respond, the Twins walked into the abandoned classroom we were waiting in.
"Brother mine, I think we may be interrupting something," Twin One said.
Twin Two nodded in agreement, "Indeed, brother. Perhaps we should come back later?"
I pushed Pansy's wand away and smiled hugely. "Boys, I've some mischief to manage, and I think you can help me."
The Twins exchanged looks before Twin One — I decided to call him the handsome twin — spoke up, "Well, you certainly have our attention."
"What can we do for you, Troll Slayer?" Twin Two asked. What to call him? Handsome was taken, and calling him the ugly twin was just mean.
I was about to tell them when Hermione spoke up from her spot, where she had been ignoring the argument between me and Pansy. "We need to get to London and back without anyone noticing."
"What makes you think we can do that?" Handsome twin asked.
"And even if we could, why would we?" The other twin, I'd figure out a name if it killed me, asked.
"I can pay," I said, placing ten galleons on one of the desks, "And it's what Prongs would do."
"Now what would you know about Prongs?" Other Twin asked, his eyebrow raised.
"And why do you think he'd help you?" Handsome asked.
"Why wouldn't he help his own daughter?" I asked innocently, tilting my head curiously.
"You're—" Other started.
"—related to the Marauders?" Handsome finished.
I nodded happily.
The Twins exchanged one of those silent looks that somehow contained a whole conversation.
"We're in!" They both said.
888
Handsome Twin left to get supplies while Other Twin started leading us to the Whomping Willow after making us apply Disillusionment Charms. The Willow was smarter than the average tree, and with its whirling limbs and disdain for students it made an excellent guard for the secret tunnel below.
"Wait here," the disembodied voice of Other Twin said.
Though he was invisible, the Whomping Willow still managed to target him. Tree limbs slammed into the ground, trying and — judging by the lack of screaming — failing to hit Other Twin as he scrambled towards the base of the tree.
After a long moment the tree froze and Other Twin called out, "Come on!" I hurried over, trusting Pansy and Hermione to follow. We slipped under the tree and into the tunnel below. Once we were all inside, Other Twin cancelled his Disillusionment, fading into view. "Alright, no need to be invisible now."
"Finite," I said, cancelling my own spell. I could have used my cloak, but the spell worked well enough and, while I somewhat trusted the Twins, there was no need to take chances. "So how are we getting to London?"
"We'll take Zonko's Floo," Other said, as he started leading us down the dank tunnel. "He's gone home for today, and he doesn't mind if me and Fred use it to get supplies. Well, he doesn't mind as long as he gets a cut."
"You do this kind of thing often?" Pansy asked from behind me.
He shook his head, "We use it to go to Diagon Alley to get supplies, but sneaking people out with us? That's a first."
"New business venture, maybe?" I asked.
"No, too risky," he said. "Selling contraband is one thing, the Professors are willing to ignore it as long as nothing to bad gets out, but taking people out of Hogwarts is… dangerous. There's too many things out there that like the taste of Wizards."
"Aha," I said. "Makes sense."
We reached the end of the tunnel, and George started up the ladder. He reached the top and opened a hatch before waving for us to follow. I went up first, Hermione and Pansy following behind.
George sat in a ratty old arm chair, "Make yourselves comfortable. We can't leave until George gets here."
"I thought you said he was Fred?" Pansy asked.
"Did I?" Not-George said, smiling disarmingly. Pansy rolled her eyes, and let's-just-go-with-George smirked, "So why, exactly, do you need to get to London?"
"I need to make a call," I said.
"Floo call?" He asked confused. "You can do that back in the castle, you know."
I nodded, "I know, but it's not a Floo call, it's a muggle phone call."
"Oh." Before he could say anything else, Fred arrived.
"Ok, so we only have one Temporary Ageing Potion but we have two Polyjuice Potions, so who wants what?" Fred asked.
"Polyjuice," Pansy said.
"Polyjuice sounds good," I said.
"I guess I'll take the Ageing Potion," Hermione said, looking a trifle disappointed that she wouldn't get to use Polyjuice.
Fred handed them out, "Okay, so the Ageing Potion will only last two hours and the Polyjuice should be good for about two, maybe three hours, so don't take too long with whatever you're doing." He and George were both giving me odd looks, "Bottoms up."
I eyed them, a little worried about who I was about to turn into, before biting the bullet and swallowing the potion. It tasted just as bad as I expected, pond water and sour milk being the best comparisons I could make.
For a moment nothing happened, and I started glaring at the Twins, but then I jerked back and had to lean against the wall for support.
It felt like I was drinking something, except instead of drinking it with my mouth I was drinking it with my whole body. Every inch of my body, from the bottom of my feet to the ends of my hair, was taking it in, and whatever it was it wasn't water, though it was refreshing in an odd slimy fashion. I finished drinking and then my body started to change.
When I changed myself it felt natural, almost artistic, but the change the Polyjuice induced was, as odd as it sounded, almost clinical in how it worked. It had a blueprint that it was following and it was determined to see it followed to the letter.
The changes stopped and I tried to take a deep breath, but only managed a small one as my clothes were suddenly several sizes too small.
"Let me," George said. "Engorgio." Suddenly my clothes fit again.
"Alex?" my father... no, Pansy asked. I stared at her — him? — and she stared at me.
Hermione, now looking almost twenty, looked at me in shock.
"What?" I finally asked, before turning to the Twins. "Who do I look like?"
They exchanged looks, before Handsome Fred said, "You were supposed to look like one of the Marauders, but…"
"You look like Bellatrix Lestrange," Pansy finished for him.
"Why do I look like Bellatrix?" I asked the Twins. "And just how do you even have Marauder hair?"
"Well, the Marauders left a workshop of sorts," George said, "and we found it. Had all sorts of things in it."
"Like Potions ingredients. Well, most of them had gone bad, but some of them, like hairs for Polyjuice, were still good," Fred said.
"Ah," I said, "So you decided to use some Padfoot hair, since I'm a Marauder's kid?" Then I frowned, "If it's his hair, then why do I look like Bellatrix?"
The Twins exchanged looks again, before speaking as one, "We ain't sure, pal."
"Well I can't just go out like this," I said. I pulled out my small makeup mirror and drew my wand. I focused on my reflection and started waving my wand in nonsense patterns while muttering under my breath.
I changed my hair first, lightening it from a dark black to an easy brown, and then I darkened my skin tone a few degrees from pasty white to a healthy tan. I gave my face, or Bellatrix's face, a longing look. If only I could change it. I nearly dropped the mirror when my face shifted, the sharp bone structure easing into something a little softer.
"Well then," I said. How did I do that? Was it because of the extra material I had to work with, or something else? I put my things away, time to contemplate later. "Let's get going, shall we?"
"…Right," Fred said. "Follow me."
We left the small shack and made our way to the back of Zonko's, and the Twins let us in.
"You all know how to use the Floo, right?" George asked as he stepped into a small back room. We all nodded. "Right, so George and I have some shopping to do, but we'll meet you at the Shrieking Shack when we're done. Remember, you only have a few hours before the potions wear out, so don't take too long."
With that said, we went through.
888
Making our way into muggle London was easy enough. Finding a payphone was slightly harder, but not too difficult. Working up the nerve to actually make the call was another matter entirely.
I spent a good minute just looking at the phone before Pansy spoke up. "Alex, what's wrong?"
I shook my head and got to work. I called information, and after going through an operator or two managed to get through to the Chicago Police Department.
"CPD, this is Lisa, how may I direct your call?" Lisa, the police secretary I'm guessing, asked.
"Yes, can I speak to Detective Murphy, Special Investigations?" I asked, glancing at my surroundings nervously. I swear I felt like I was being watched. Mind you, that was probably just my paranoia speaking, but still.
"One moment, please," Lisa said.
A moment later the line clicked over and a hard female voice answered, "This is Detective Murphy, who is this?"
I almost froze, before I forced myself to say the first thing that came to mind, "Right, yes, you can call me Bella." Pansy and Hermione both gave me 'what the heck' looks. I shrugged, and gave them a helpless look in return.
"…Okay Bella, how can I help you?" Murphy asked, voice suspicious. I fought the urge to bang my head against the phone, I'm so bad at this.
"I need you to give Dresden some information," I said.
There was a short pause before Murphy spoke again, "Look, I don't know who this is, but—"
"That's kind of the point," I interrupted her, before sighing. "Sorry, it's just what I need you to tell him is important and more than a little dangerous. I don't want to be anywhere near this, I have enough problems without adding Dresden's, but if I don't at least try and get this to someone who can do something with it… I don't know if I can look myself in the mirror, you know?"
"Alright ma'am, what do you need me to tell him?" Murphy asked, her cop voice cool and steady.
I took a deep breath before speaking, "Someone is going to come to Dresden for help, if he hasn't already. There's going to be a shapeshifter, an evil Native American spirit—"
"How do we kill it?" Murphy interrupted, her voice intent.
"It's a minor dark god, the last time one of them was killed it took a nuke, so killing it is kinda off the table." I had debated revealing this part before deciding that it was probably a good idea for Dresden to be bound to the island. I got the feeling it would be important for him, and maybe the world, in the future. "But if he performs a Sanctum Invocation on the island, he can imprison it."
"Which island?" She sounded like she already knew the answer, but wanted to be wrong.
"The island, Detective. The island," I said.
"Anything else?" Murphy asked, tense.
"Yes, two... no, three things. Tell Dresden he needs to see, not call, see his mentor and have him, or better yet, have Wizard Listens-To-Wind check the ink that they are using to sign documents—"
"The ink?" Murphy asked, interrupting me again.
"Yes, the ink. If my information is correct, then it's being used to influence them," I said gravely. The White Council was one of the biggest powers in the supernatural community, and someone influencing them was a horrifying thought.
"And the last two things?" Murphy asked, sounding like she really didn't want to know, but was determined to see this through.
"There is no cure for Red Court vampirism, but you can put the vampire side of those who have not yet killed to sleep," I said, before taking another deep breath and continuing, "And if he should contact Miss Rodriguez, he should ask about Maggie."
"How do you—" Murphy said.
"That's not important," I interrupted. "Do you have all that, Detective?"
"…Yes, I have it." Murphy ground out. "What I don't have is a reason to believe you." I blinked, I hadn't expected that. "How do I know you're not just trying to get Dresden killed?" Even though it annoyed me it was a reasonable question. Dresden had enemies, calling a friend of his with false information was a good way to try and off him without actually getting your hands dirty.
"Detective, I don't know how to convince you that I'm trying to help. All I can do is promise you that I am trying. So please, please just tell him what I told you. One way or another he'll be able to verify what I said."
There was a long silence on the other end before Murphy spoke. "Alright, I'll tell him."
I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "Thank you and good luck, Detective." I hung up the phone before she could say anything else, and slumped against the phone. "Damn, that was stressful." I really hoped I hadn't just made a huge mistake.
"What's chasing him?" Hermione asked, speaking for the first time since we left.
I shook my head, "Not here, we can talk when we get back to the Room." I still had that weird feeling of being watched.
"Fine," Hermione said tersely.
I blinked, the only time I'd seen Hermione like this was just before a test. "Are you feeling ok?"
"Of course," she said, before turning on her heel and walking back towards the Leaky Cauldron. I turned to Pansy and she — well, he at the moment — just shrugged. "We have to get back soon!" Hermione called out, and Pansy and I started after her.
888
We arrived at the Shrieking Shack to find the Twins going to town on a pair of ice-cream sundaes.
"I hope your night was as successful as ours was," George said.
"It was," Pansy said.
"Good!" Fred said happily, before finishing the last of his sundae. "Alright, let's go."
"Brother mine, I do believe you have forgotten something," George said.
"I have?" Fred asked. "Oh, right." He reached into his clothes and pulled out an oblong container. "We got you a sundae. One of Fortescue's best." He handed it to me.
"Thanks," I said, and then nearly dropped it when I started shrinking. After a long moment I finished shrinking and found myself clutching at clothes that were far too big for me. "...Help?"
"Finite," Fred said, before doing the same for Pansy while George helped Hermione.
"Much better, thank you," I said after my clothes returned to normal and I got everything adjusted just right. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready to get back."
"The customer is always right. Follow us, my lady," George said, bowing with a flourish, before opening the trapdoor and heading down. We followed and in short order were back on Hogwarts grounds and safely outside the range of the Whomping Willow.
We made it to the entrance hall before the Twins wished us a goodnight and split off to get to the Gryffindor dorms.
"The Room?" I asked as Pansy, Hermione and I started up the stairway.
"The Room," Pansy agreed. Hermione said nothing. I gave her a worried look before continuing up. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be an easy talk. We climbed the stairs in silence until we passed the fourth floor and I had enough.
"Hermione," I started.
"Not now," Hermione said. Okay, someone's mad.
"Okay," I agreed. I really wasn't going to like this talk.
It wasn't yet nine o'clock, which meant that curfew wasn't in effect, so we didn't bother going invisible, which meant that when Quirrell got on the stairs he saw us.
"Cutting it a little close, aren't we?" Quirrell asked, looking up at us from the bottom of the staircase. "Miss Parkinson, shouldn't you be heading in the other direction?" Pansy and I exchanged looks. "Why don't you follow me? I'll make sure you get to the Slytherin dorms without further delay."
Despite everything pointing against his guilt, I still didn't trust Quirrell. He creeped me the hell out, and the thought of Pansy going with him this late at night, without any backup, made my hair stand on end. Unfortunately, unless I wanted to attack him, there wasn't really any way for me to keep her from going with him.
"Just in case," I whispered and did the only thing I could think of. I pulled Pansy into a hug and slipped her my cloak. With her skill and my cloak backing her, if Quirrell attacked her, she should be able to get away.
Pansy got a little wide eyed, before schooling her face and nodding. She gave Hermione a hug before heading down the stairs towards Quirrell.
Quirrell gave Pansy a nod, before looking back up at Hermione and me. "You two had best be going if you want to make it back to your dorms before curfew."
I reluctantly turned away and started up the stairs, and Hermione followed. We had almost made it to the Ravenclaw dorms' entrance when I turned to face Hermione.
"If you want, we can just go to the Room now, I don't mind answering questions twice," I said, feeling slightly at a loss. Hermione had seemed fine earlier, but now she seemed angry. "I know keeping secrets isn't the…" I trailed off when I noticed that Hermione's eyes weren't focused on me, but on something behind me.
I spun around, sliding to the side, my wand falling into my right hand and a throwing knife sliding into my left. I froze when I saw the hooded figure with bright, blood-red eyes.
I took a panicked step back, and nearly tripped over Hermione's fallen form. "V-Vol..." Voldemort, it had to be him, raised his arm and I fell to the floor, twitching erratically from a pain so sudden and intense I couldn't draw in enough air to scream.
The pain abruptly stopped and I gasped for breath. That had hurt worse than the lava. Before I could do anything else a red light hit me and I lost consciousness.
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Pansy
After Alex's revelations today I had been looking forward to going over them tonight. I mean, I had been expecting something odd, but for it to be reincarnation and for her memories to be so intact was almost unbelievable. Most reincarnates that I had read about were lucky if they could even remember who their parents were, let alone that they were in a plot from some book.
If Alex being a reincarnate with a solid memory wasn't hard enough to believe, she was also from another Earth? One where the muggles made a play... no, a movie about the supernatural, and got it right? That kind of thing was impossible. It didn't happen in real life, it couldn't…
… and yet Alex believed it wholeheartedly. Her emotions were exactly what I would expect from someone revealing a closely held secret. Dread-fear-anxiety-hope. No matter how unbelievable it sounded, Alex was telling the truth as she knew it.
Unless of course Alex was actually so capable a liar that she was able to completely fool me. (My quill actually fell from my hand, I was laughing so hard.) Or she could simply be crazy, but if she was, then how did she know the things she did?
The Chamber of Secrets was a prize that people had looked for practically since the founding of Hogwarts, but no one had ever found it. And Alex finds it her first year? Or the Room of Requirement, something that there were not even legends about. She almost needed otherworldly knowledge to find them, didn't she?
I eyed Professor Quirrell as we made our way towards the Slytherin dormitories. What did Alex know about him that made her willing to part with her invisibility cloak, something she had never done before, on the off-chance he'd try something? Her emotions regarding the Defense Professor were always tinged with suspicion and fear, but I had simply assumed that it was because of their encounter during the flying lessons. Now, I now realized that the depths of her emotions regarding him were too deep to only be about that.
"Something on my face?" Professor Quirrell asked, his face falling into an easy smile. Curiosity-amusement, not exactly the feelings I expected from the horror that Alex seemed to think he was.
I smiled back, and started to respond when I felt Alex's PAIN. It stopped nearly as soon as it had started, but it was enough to make me trip and fall. I was back on my feet immediately.
"What's wrong, Miss Parkinson?" Professor Quirrell asked, concern-worry.
If he really was as bad as Alex thought, then he could be partly responsible for whatever was wrong with her now, the extremely muted feelings of a stunned person being the only reassurance I had that she and Hermione were still alive. I hesitated only a moment before responding. If he was part of this I'd simply have to go through him to get my friends back.
"Alex and Hermione are in danger," I said, keeping a close eye on his emotions for any sign of danger. What I felt from him, though, was surprise followed by a deep dread, more than I would have expected even given the circumstances, before they disappeared and all I could feel was a steely wall of determination.
"Are you sure?" He asked, looking me straight in the eye.
"Yes."
He turned away, "Go to your room, I will take care of this." He pulled something, not a wand, out of his robe and muttered a spell before sprinting up the stairs.
I silenced my feet and was about to reach for the cloak when I saw my arm disappear. I stared at my invisible arm for a moment before shaking my head, whoever had enchanted this cloak had done an amazing job, but I had more important things to do right now.
Someone had just made a huge mistake. They had hurt my friends. My friends. MINE. I had every intention of repaying them, whoever they were, with interest.