"You're my brother," Alexandra said softly, hardly daring to believe it.
"Half-brother, actually," Wretermoust said. "We have different fathers."
"Fathers?" Alexandra said, her head snapping up. "Does my dad know-"
"That muggle father of yours doesn't have a clue that mum's really a witch," he said quickly.
"But-but this can't be right," Alexandra stuttered. "I've seen pictures of…her, when she was pregnant with me. My dad was there when I was born. You're the same age as me, so how could she have given birth to you as well?"
"I'm not the one that should be telling you all this," Wretermoust said, getting up off his chair. "Mum will be able to answer far more of your questions than I can."
"I'm not going to talk to her, if that's where you're going," Alexandra told him, standing up as well.
"Then you won't get your questions answered," he shrugged. "Simple as that. Just know, your father can try all he wants to keep her away from you through those stupid muggle courts, but she's much more powerful than he is. So you can either keep fighting it, and still lose, or you can just accept it, and maybe, just maybe, you'll win."
"Win what?"
Wretermoust grinned. "Things are going to start changing. The damn Ministry may try to fight it, but they'll fall, just like last time."
"You're mum's not going to do anything to the Ministry."
"Our mum."
"The Aurrors will stop her," Alexandra continued, ignoring the last comment. "She'll get sent back to Azkaban, where she'll rot."
Wretermoust moved closer to her, so that their faces were inches apart. Alexandra tried not to be alarmed at the fact that she now noticed numerous similarities in their faces…
"That's what you think." He stepped away and headed towards the door. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around this summer."
Alexandra stood frozen as the door swung shut, her mind buzzing out of control.
….
"This is it," Harry said as him, Ron and eight other Aurrors reached a tiny house in a small village. "The house Claridina Wretermoust grew up in."
The house was run down, and seemed as if no one had lived in it for years. Moss had overtaken it, and the windows were so dirty that it didn't seem like anyone could see either through or out of them.
"Ron, Micheals, Bott, and I will go through the front," Harry instructed. "Paul, Jones, Kinger and Portsmith take the back. Higgens and Samuels, stand guard out here."
"You don't think she'll really be in here, do you?" Ron whispered to Harry as everyone prepared for the entrance.
"No," Harry admitted. "But we can't take any chances."
Harry tried Alohamora on the lock of the front door, and as he suspected, the charm failed, so he instead resorted to simply blasting it down.
Harry's group stepped into a living room area, and he saw the second group enter through the back door in the kitchen. Harry signaled that his group was going to go upstairs while the others searched the downstairs area.
The stairs had a thick layer of dust on them, which padded the sounds of the Aurrors feet as they padded upstairs. There were only three bedrooms and a small washroom. It didn't take long to determine that Claridina was nowhere in the house.
"Anything up here?" asked Kinger, as him and the second group came up the steps. "Downstairs has absolutely nothing. Looks like no ones been here in years."
"Same here," Harry sighed. "Hope the others had more luck. They're asking around the markets in the country."
"She probably knew we'd come here," Ron said. "Luxemburg isn't exactly a huge country; she'd have nowhere to hide."
"We still have some places she could be hiding," Harry said. "There's a village not too far from here that has a pretty Dark reputation, and-"
"Harry," Ron said suddenly, feeling a wall with his hand. "Here's a door!"
Harry frowned. "She's made it blend into the wall."
Ron cautiously opened the secret door, revealing a narrow flight of stairs.
"Right, it doesn't look like too many of us will be able to fit," Harry said. "Ron and I will go up for now, and if we need you, we'll signal you."
Harry, lighting his wand, slowly began his way up the steps, Ron right behind him.
The stairs led to a sort of attic, but the ceiling was so low that both men had to hunch over.
"Over there!" Ron pointed out, shining his wand over to a far corner where a large cauldron sat. Harry bent over it, and peered into the contents. There was a thick, red liquid inside, and by heat that came from it; he guessed that someone had been tampering with it recently.
"There's all sorts of them," Ron said, shining his wand around the rest of the attic, revealing about ten cauldrons.
"She's been here then," Harry said softly. "She hasn't left this attic when she's been here, but she's been here alright. Not too long ago, too, by the looks of these potions."
"Any idea what sort of potions these are?" Ron asked, peering into a cauldron with a fizzling purple substance in it.
"No idea," Harry said. "But I'm betting they're nothing we learned at Hogwarts."