A/N: Hey everyone, I was hesitant to post this update because I wasn't entirely sure if everyone (most of my normal readers) got the chance to read the last chap I posted. Usually my review count gives me an idea of the ratio of how many of my readers have actually read the story, and my reviews were lower than normal, so I assumed that meant that my views in general were less. However, a peek at my view and visitor count told me that it was only slightly less than normal, so hence my regular update.
However, I want to remind everyone that I do really appreciate reviews, because they let me know everyone's thoughts on the story, and especially, whether or not everyone is on the same page as me :)
One Last Thing: There's a bit of a time jump of a few days from the beginning to the end of the chap, the dates are mentioned as always. Also, there's a bit of fun science-y and immunological terminology in the beginning, I'll explain a bit more at the end, but don't forget to ask me questions at the end if you have any!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A New Lead
Monday, February 28th, 2022
Spencer Green almost fell flat on his face as he ran around the corner of one of the corridors of St. Mungo's Hospital, before and sliding through the –thankfully- open door of Healer Singh's office.
"I've pieced it together!"
Healer Singh looked much less startled at her intern's sudden arrival than she would have two months ago when he first arrived. By now, she was used to his odd behaviours, "You've pieced what together Mr. Green?"
"I know what our mysterious patient is ill with."
Healer Singh stood up quickly from behind her desk, "What is it?"
"He's sick from a particularly nasty infection from the Bacillus Zicterrvalloes strand," Spencer explained to his supervisor.
"Bacillus Zicterrvalloes?" Healer Singh asked, unfamiliar with the particular strand.
"I know, I've never heard of it before either, but by the process of elimination this is what it is," Spencer assured.
"How did you come to this diagnosis?" Healer Singh questioned, knowing that she needed to verify his process before they started to treat the patient.
"I started with the results of a lab culture I finally got back," Spencer began.
"You were able to get a lab culture back that quickly?"
"A friend of mine has a connection in a muggle bio-lab, they put our file on the top of the pile, and the labs were finished and delivered on Friday. I spent all weekend going through it and researching, and I finally diagnosed it early this morning," Spencer explained.
"What did the labs say?"
"It was specifically an enzyme catalase test, and it showed that there were very small traces of oxygen in the sample, so it has used a little bit of it in cellular respiration before. However, the amounts were too small to have kept the bacteria alive, and therefore-"
Healer Singh cut Spencer off, "It's a facultative anaerobe."
"Yes."
"And that narrowed down your search?" She asked.
"Yes, it cut off half of the Bacillus genus, however the research I found at the Hogwarts library ended up being a huge help," Spencer said.
"You were able to find reference to this bacteria in your research?"
"In a roundabout way. I found a few diseases mentioned in some very old medical texts outlining symptoms that sounded like what the man had, and then I cross-referenced the old-fashioned terms with newer diseases, to see what the newest name was. I lost most of them around the Renaissance and Enlightenment period, but then I went through the muggle health system to see if they had any cases of unknown diseases that had the same symptoms. I found some similar ones that were overlooked at first because the muggles tried to come up for their own explanations for some of the symptoms they couldn't explain, and then compared all of the lab cultures to a narrower list of known muggle bacteria in the Bacillus family, and I found it. The muggles found and named it themselves about a decade ago, and they have no idea the extent of the illness or how to cure it, but it does have a name: Bacillus Zicterrvalloes," Spencer described.
"Okay, but if they don't know how to cure it, how do you suppose we treat our patient?" Healer Singh asked, going back to practicality.
"That's where the research into those old magical medical texts comes into play. They mention different treatments to heal the illness, and we can work off of what they used, along with the actual bacterial make-up that the muggles have discovered."
"So we'll have to play the treatments by ear then?" Healer Singh quizzed.
"That's the best I've got so far," Spencer said.
Healer Singh smiled at him, "You've done so much already Mr. Green, let me and some of the other interns have a try now."
"Auror Donaldson, Auror Williamson, you have a visitor," one of the first-level-aurors-in-training said after knocking gently on their shared cubicle door.
"Bwmf 'im foo us," Kurt mumbled, his mouth full of a half-eaten raspberry Danish pastry.
"Excuse me Sir?" The girl asked.
Jilly rolled her eyes, "He said to bring the visitor in to see us please."
The auror-in-training nodded, and then left as quickly as she came.
"I didn't use that many syllables," Kurt said after he finally finished swallowing his mouthful of pastry.
"No, you were much more rude," Jilly chastised.
The auror-in-training came back with the visitor, and then left to give them their privacy.
"Ah, Spencer Green, I take it this impromptu visit means that you've discovered something important about our mysterious patient?" Jilly asked recognizing their visitor.
Spencer nodded and folded his lanky build down into a chair across from Jilly and Kurt's desks, "I've finally identified the bacteria, and therefore the disease."
"Excellent," Kurt replied in an excited tone, "So what is it?"
"It's called Bacillus Zicterrvalloes, and even though we know what it is, Healer Singh and I will have to work for a little while longer to figure out a proper treatment to treat it, since none of our research was able to uncover a quick cure," Spencer explained, "However, diagnosing the disease is all you guys really need to know about right now."
"Um, I think we'd like the patient to be cured so we can try to get important information –like his name- out of him," Kurt corrected.
"Well until that happens, I can narrow down where this bloke's been."
"Really?" Jilly asked interestedly.
"Yes, Bacillus Zicterrvalloes causes a disease that was last seen in medical texts around the time of the Renaissance, called 'scratching scales', because of the green tinge the person's skin takes on, along with the consistent scratching that started in the second stage. It was rare even back then, and mostly seen in people who had recently visited very warm places in an area that we now know as South America, specifically around Peru and Ecuador," Spencer said.
"Can you narrow down the region?" Jilly asked, her tone drifting from interested to concern.
Spencer noticed the change in her tone, but continued with his report, "Not to a specific section such as north or west, however, I can tell you that the bacteria is a facultative anaerobe, meaning it can survive in places that have oxygen, or not. The cells showed that there were some oxygen in them, however, there wasn't a lot, so the place most likely had very little oxygen, or fresh air. However, the only way that would make sense would be if the spores of the bacteria were hibernating in some sort of sealed chamber, most likely underground, and was recently opened. I would assume that the man had been there when it was opened, and that he inhaled the old air, and therefore the spores. Once the spores were in his body, they snapped out of hibernation and began to grow and divide into him. We know now that they started in his lungs, which leads back to him having inhaled the spores, and then traveled through his bloodstream, particularly to the veins closest to the skin, and the mucosa lining of nasal passages –which explains the nose bleeds!"
"And you're certain that this is how he caught it?" Kurt asked suspiciously.
"It's all conjecture of course," Spencer reasoned, "However, it would make the most sense. You could verify the route of transmission by looking at a test on his clothes and his other personal items. A Test to see if bacteria cells are found on them. If there are, that could suggest another route of transmission than inhalation from the source."
"Thank you Spencer. This information has been very helpful," Jilly assured.
"You're welcome," Spencer said, standing up to leave.
"And don't forget," Kurt warned Spencer as he made his way over to the door, "You're not allowed to tell anyone outside this investigation about this, or anything you've found.
"Your sudden anxiety about me spilling secrets makes me think that this has something to do with mine and Victoire's favourite auror," Spencer said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"No comment," Jilly replied, a little less than delicately.
Spencer rolled his eyes and gave the two a wave as he left their office.
Friday, March 4th 2022
"Now Miss North, next time you decide that you want to take a joyride on one of the school's brooms, perhaps you should choose one that isn't nicknamed Ol' Leg Crusher," Victoire told the first year with an amused smile on her face, as she put the finishing healing spell on the girl's ankle that had ended up sprained from said joyride.
"Of course Healer Weasley," the young Gryffindor responded with a bright smile.
Victoire tried not to smile more brightly than she already was, in case the young girl would mistake it as a sign of approval, even though it sorta was.
"Get to lunch now," Victoire said nodding her head in the direction of the nearest doorway. The girl had fallen off the broom and landed on the ground in the pavilion area outside, just between the Great Hall and the Herbology greenhouses. Because the ride was not school sanctioned, there was no professor directly around. In addition, since most students were in classes at the time of the accident –and none of the first years could perform a hover charm- one of the girl's friends ran to the Hospital wing to get help, and Victoire followed her down to the muddy pavilion where Miss North was lying down.
While Victoire healed the young Gryffindor, the present class let out just in time for lunch. She watched the younger students leave, and then stood up herself.
"Victoire!"
She lifted her head up, and smiled in greeting as Caleb walked out of the nearest open doorway, and towards her.
"Hi, how was your second-year class?" Victoire asked about the last class he taught before lunch, once he got closer.
"You tell me," He replied in a not-so-amused tone as he thrust piece of paper at her that looked like it had been ripped off a larger piece of parchment paper.
Victoire took it from him, and looked at what was written on it. When she finished reading, she looked back up to Caleb, "Seriously?"
"I'm afraid so. I found at least four other notes similar to this from other students in my class today. Girls and boys," Caleb revealed.
"So, you're telling me that your second-year class is under the impression that we're dating?" Victoire asked unbelievingly, "As in you and me? Really?"
"One," Caleb began, "Ouch, you could do worse than me. And two, yes, that seems to be the rumour running around."
Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "This is just what I need. Before the weekend's over everyone in the Castle is going to think we're shagging or something."
"Again, you could do worse," Caleb reminded, "And I think you're overreacting a little. This could stay limited to just the second-years."
"I highly doubt that. But we can test your theory right now," Victoire told him as she spotted a few familiar faces who had wandered out of the Castle and onto the muddy pavilion during their lunch break, "Al, Rose, get over here!"
A few seconds later Al, Rose, and Scorpius Malfoy –the third member of their group- came to stand in front of Victoire and Caleb.
"What's up Vic?" Al asked curiously; Rose was busy, her gaze skimming a book in her hands; and Scorpius was just standing awkwardly between the two with his hands in his pockets.
"Give me the most recent gossip run-down about this place," Victoire demanded, crossing her arms against her chest.
"Well," Al started getting ready to count off his list on his fingers, "This fourth-year bloke from Hufflepuff has won the contest to become the student's new restricted items runner; there's a rumour that Professor Suggitt is going to re-use parts of her exams from last year in this year's, so the black-market on old test answers is booming again. There's one that says that Cecilia is going to call Danielle out for calling her a controlling bitch, but I'm pretty sure that that one just snowballed from something Anish told Freddie. I still haven't made any headway on who sent Rose those flowers on Valentine's Day," Rose's ears turned red, and Scorpius suddenly felt the need to look everywhere but at anyone's face.
"And, Lily and Hugo have started up a pool to bet on whether James is going to hook up with that Mélanie chick, and they have several categories for you to put money on; everything from 'Not-even-in-his-dreams' to 'Oh-yeah-James-is-gettin'-him-some-o'-that," Al finished.
Victoire sighed, "Hugo came up with the titles of those categories, didn't he?"
"What do you think?" Rose commented sarcastically, still not taking her eyes off her book.
"A betting pool, seriously?" Caleb asked.
Al shrugged, "James came up with one to bet on when Vic and Teddy would get together, so it's only fair that we make up one for him."
"He has a point," Victoire told Caleb. She turned to Al, "Remind me to put some money down on one of the 'How-long-is-it-going-to-last-?' categories later."
Caleb gave Victoire a disapproving look.
"What?"
"That's not why you wanted to ask Mr. Potter about the school's latest gossip," Caleb reminded her.
Victoire rolled her eyes, "Al, have you heard the rumour that Professor Cooke and I are involved?"
"Of course," Al added swiftly, "But I already filed that under the, 'it's-not-true-so-I'm-not-going-to-bother-listening-to-it' category."
"But it has made it up to the awareness of the fifth-years?" Victoire clarified.
"Oh yeah, everyone's gossiping about it, some girls have even gotten up the courage to ask me if it's true or not," Rose said, taking her gaze of her book for the first time, "I told them that it wasn't true of course. But they continued with it because the gossip sounds better than the truth."
"We've even heard about way over in Slytherin House," Scorpius added helpfully.
"Maybe it hasn't gotten past the fifth-years?" Caleb suggested.
"You could always ask Cecilia or Louis," Al suggested, pointing towards his cousin and said cousin's girlfriend who just walked out onto the pavilion, hand-in-hand.
"Alright. Hey Louis, Cecilia front and centre!" Victoire yelled waving them over.
Al, Rose, and Scorpius took that as their cue to leave, as they were exchanged for the two seventh-years.
"Do you need something Vic?" Cecilia asked brightly once she and Louis had gotten close enough to them.
"Have you heard that Professor Cooke and I are dating?" Victoire asked, not even bothering with pleasantries.
"We have indeed," Louis answered in as bright a tone as Cecilia had used.
Victoire put her hands on her hips, "And why haven't you said anything about it?"
Louis and Cecilia shared a look, "Because we didn't believe it."
"Good," Victoire replied.
"Yeah, I mean how stupid do you have to be to believe that you would dump my brother for Professor Cooke?" Cecilia asked.
Caleb looked taken aback, "Excuse me I have just as much to offer Victoire as Xavier Wood!"
"Well that's nice, but you do understand Caleb, that I'm not dating either you or Xavier, right?" Victoire questioned.
"I'm just saying that just because I'm a professor, it doesn't mean that I'm less interesting or desirable than a professional Quidditch keeper," Caleb argued.
Victoire rubbed her temples, "Does anyone here remember that the person I'm dating is neither a professor, nor a professional Quidditch player?"
"Of course we remember Vic," Louis assured her, "Cecilia just finds this whole situation very entertaining."
Victoire glared at the younger girl, "And why exactly is this situation so amusing?"
"Because it keeps all of the vapid girls in our year from spreading slanderous gossip about how mine and Louis's relationship is falling apart," Cecilia answered happily.
"But your relationship isn't falling apart," Victoire reminded.
"That's why it's slanderous gossip," Cecilia explained.
"Ah."
"So, back to the main point, would you guess that everyone in the Castle then has pretty much heard about this rumour?" Caleb asked the two seventh-years.
"Yeah."
"Definitely."
"Fantastic," Caleb moaned.
"You could do worse than me," Victoire told him with a smirk.
Before Caleb could speak, an owl flew overhead them and dropped off a letter, which floated gently down into Victoire's open hands.
She gave the enclosed envelope a surprised look as Caleb, Cecilia, and Louis stared at her with curiosity. She opened the envelope, and quickly scanned through the letter, her eyes getting wider as she got closer to the bottom. When she was finished, she looked up at Caleb.
"I have to leave right now; can you explain to McGonagall that it's an emergency?" Victoire asked, starting to shove the letter back into the envelope and putting it in her pocket.
Caleb was taken aback, but he nodded, "Sure, but what should I tell her?"
"Tell her I'll be at the Ministry, I'll write her a note with a better explanation when I get there!" Victoire called as she took off in a run in the direction of the front of the Castle. It was obvious that she was going to the gates so she could get outside of them to disapparate away.
Victoire's destination, after she'd left Hogwarts, had been the Ministry of Magic, specifically the Auror Department. Once she got off the lift and onto the right floor, she ran right towards Kingsley's office –ignoring the shocked looks she got from the half a dozen first-year-aurors-in-training who all seemed to be occupied with carrying one set of paperwork to a different place- and started to pound her fist on his closed office door. She stopped after a few seconds, counted to fifteen in her head, and then started knocking again. When there still was no answer, she spun around and scrutinized the aurors-in-training who were still staring contemplatively towards her.
"Hey, Blondie," Victoire called to the most competent looking auror-in-training in the immediate vicinity, "When is Kingsley expected to be back in the office?"
The young woman looked very taken aback. She glanced down at Victoire's winter coat and upon noticing that Victoire wasn't wearing a Ministry issued visitor's badge, –something she had forewent the trouble of getting as it was imperative that she get to Kingsley right away- the young auror stood up straight and replied in a strict tone, "I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to give that information out without even knowing who you are Miss. If you were to tell me your intentions of meeting with Auror Shacklebolt, I might then be able to help you, bit I need to know who you are and what you want first."
If Victoire weren't in such a hurry to see, she might have respected the auror-in-training's tenacity, as it was though, she wasn't really in the mood to hear a trainee try to strong-arm her. She was about to open her mouth and tell the young woman exactly who she was, when an older and more senior auror, who actually recognized Victoire, happened by.
"Miss Weasley? Is there something wrong?" He asked as he walked around the gathered group of aurors-in-training who were still watching the interaction with interest.
Victoire let out a relieved sigh, "Auror McKenny thank-goodness. There's nothing necessarily wrong, but I do need to speak Kingsley as soon as possible."
Auror McKenny nodded, "Auror Shacklebolt's in a conference with some other aurors at the moment Miss Weasley, and they're discussing a very important and classified case. Is it possible that your business with Auror Shacklebolt can wait?"
Victoire shook her head, "I'm afraid not Auror McKenny. Tell Auror Shacklebolt that I've stumbled upon a very important lead in an investigation that I'm sure is very classified and most likely also very time sensitive."
Auror McKenny's face belayed his interest in her words, but he still wanted to try to redirect her one more time, "Miss Weasley I'm sure that Auror Shacklebolt will not be too much longer, if you could simply wait for him?"
Victoire sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Fine, I'll wait to see him. Perhaps in the mean time you could scrounge up Auror Donaldson and Auror Williamson for me? The information I have to share with Kingsley concerns them also, somehow."
She noticed Auror McKenny's eyes widen as she mentioned Jilly and Kurt's names.
"Are you telling me that the information you want to share with Auror Shacklebolt, has something to do with an ongoing case that Aurors Donaldson and Williamson are working on?"
"That's what I've been led to believe," Victoire replied even though she wasn't one-hundred-percent sure about it.
That seemed to change Auror McKenny's manner, "Well then Miss Weasley, if that's the case I'd suggest that you go ahead into Auror Shacklebolt's office while I go get him and Aurors Donaldson and Williamson directly."
Victoire nodded, wary but very thankful of Auror McKenny's change in demeanour. She followed his instructions, and she found that she hadn't been seated for more than a few minutes before Kingsley, Jilly, and Kurt joined her in Kingsley's office.
"What's going on Princess?" Kingsley asked as he chose to sit on the edge of the front of his desk so that he could be close to where Victoire sat, "McKenny said that you had some information on an ongoing investigation of Donaldson and Williamson's."
"I think I do," Victoire answered, she was a little unsure for the first time since she'd made her decision to leave Hogwarts and directly travel to the Ministry, so that she could introduce Kingsley to the contents of the letter she'd recently received. "Even if it doesn't actually pertain to Jilly and Kurt's investigation, I still think it's something important that you need to be made aware of."
"What investigation do you think you have information about?" Jilly asked while Kurt took a seat in a chair next to Victoire, she had opted to stand instead.
"I don't really know what you investigation is about, all I know is what Dom told me. But it relates to the case you have that deals with a stolen piece of antiquated pottery that one of Colton Knott's clients had in his possession, which was found to be specifically tagged by MLE," Victoire explained, noticing particularly how all three of them froze for a moment when she mentioned what she knew.
Kingsley's expression which had originally been full of concern for her, slipped into an unreadable mask that Victoire recognized as his go-to expression when he didn't want her trying to read the emotions on his face, "What exactly do you know about this investigation Victoire?"
Victoire took a moment to collect her thoughts before answering, "Dom called me last week and said that she wanted me to go with her to a party at the Knott's law building because she needed my help getting a file from their cabinet while everyone else was at the party. I got the file that she wanted, and then she explained why she wanted it. She told me about her earlier meeting with Jilly and Kurt and the stolen antique, and she said after she left that she just had this feeling that there was a lot more to the case, and she thought that she –or more specifically I- would be able to undercover information that could be useful, before Jilly and Kurt could. She wanted Emil Minkov's file so she could get the name of the man he claimed to have gotten the antique from. When we discovered the name Anton Danchev she said that the man was from Bulgaria, and his last known address was in Vratsa. She figured that it would take Jilly and Kurt a while to cut through the political red tape that surrounds trying to investigate a person from another country, without having it sound like your accusing a citizen of trafficking stolen antiquities. So, she presumed that since I keep contact with someone who works in Vratsa as a ministry official in their trading division, that I'd be able to get any information that there is to be had about Danchev before Jilly or Kurt could."
"And who is this contact in Vratsa?" Kurt asked.
"Konstantin Krum. I wrote him a letter last week, and he just wrote me back today," Victoire said handing the letter to Kingsley first, "I can summarize the information for the three of you right now though. Konstantin did what I asked him to, thankfully without asking any more questions that I didn't have the answer to, and told me that even though their ministry hadn't been investigating Anton Danchev before, that he's putting it to them that they should now. Konstantin followed Vratsa for two days, and then when he noticed some of the –less than reputable- people he had been in contact with, he called in one of his own contacts that used to work in illegal trading, and who had turned into an informant for their trading and exporting division. Together they found enough information to figure out from where Danchev got most of his goods. They still need to do a lot more investigation into the situation, but what Konstantin knows for sure is that Danchev works as a lower level import and export officer for an illegal stolen artifact circle that is rumoured to be run by a large, mostly American, crime family by the name of Holmwood."
Kingsley's eyes were skimming through the letter Victoire had handed him that had Konstantin's exact words, only to stop when he heard her say the name 'Holmwood'.
"Is Mr. Krum certain that the Holmwoods are involved in this illegal trade network?" Kingsley asked in a very serious tone.
"He's certain enough to risk bringing it up to his superiors," Victoire assured Kingsley.
"Are you serious Victoire? Those assholes are involved in this?" Kurt asked, not even bothering to try to curb his language in front of the head of their department.
"Konstantin knows how serious an accusation like this would be, he would never have mentioned it to me if he wasn't sure about it, and if he didn't have proof," Victoire guaranteed.
"We'll have to contact Bulgaria's Ministry of Magic then, along with the North American Multi-Cultural Organized Crime Investigation Division if the Holmwood family is truly involved," Kingsley said, Victoire could tell by looking at his face that he was already strategizing who he'd have to go about contacting, as well as when and how.
"The N. A. M. C. O. C. I. D.? Alright, they weren't too bad to work with the first time around," Kurt responded casually.
Kingsley wasn't really listening to him though; he was still making plans in his head. He did abruptly turn and look at Jilly though, "You and Williamson should get back to the meeting and continue trading leads with Auror Summers and his crew about their case."
Jilly's face hardened, "Don't you want to be there for that Sir?"
"I'll be along in a bit," Kingsley assured them, "But Victoire and I need to have a little discussion before that happens."
A/N: Oh. Look at that. The Holmwoods are back. This will be fun, won't it? So, how was this chap? What do we think of Spencer's break through? What about the Hogwarts rumour mill? And now this new Holmwood break-through?
A Few Things:
1.) The name of the bacteria, Bacillus Zicterrvalloes, is completely made up, so even though I try to make my science correct, the bacteria itself is fake, as will be the particular symptoms.
2.) Enzyme catalase test: The catalase test is also one of the main three tests used by microbiologists to identify species of bacteria. The presence of catalase enzyme in the test isolate is detected using hydrogen peroxide. If the bacteria possess catalase, when a small amount of bacterial isolate is added to hydrogen peroxide, bubbles of oxygen are observed.
3.) Facultative anaerobe: An organism which is capable of producing energy through aerobic (use of oxygen) respiration and then switching back to anaerobic respiration (not using oxygen) depending on the amounts of oxygen and fermentable material in the environment.
4.) For those of you who want a refresher of the history of the Holmwoods from TTA, I took the liberty of making up a list of chapters in which they are mentioned so you can go back to TTA and have a bit of a review session: Chapters 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 101, 102, and 106. You only have to read these if you want a refresher of course.
Next Update: Will be next week! (P.S. I've got 1 exam down and 4 more to go!)
Next Chapter: We will finally get to see some Teddy and some Vic and perhaps some interaction between them? ;)
Teaser for Next Chap:
""Vic Sweetheart, what are you doing?" Teddy asked, finally able to break through her concentration.
She pulled at a piece of hair from the end of her ponytail and started to twirl it around her finger, "I'm trying to figure out if I'm having anxiety or a panic attack.""
Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!
Big thanks as always to:
MiraclesHappen94, Lyce, MuggleCreator, Imightjustwishiwasaweasley, FrothyCoffeeQueen26, no cure for crazy, Brook-Lucas-Fan-23, Manydifferentfandoms, Seher Syed, Devi2509, MyKeBlack, slytherinnette, clessard, Family615, zvc56, and brilliant incandescence!
MiraclesHappen94: We'll get to see Teddy in the next chap!
Lyce: T'anks!
Imightjustwishiwasaweasley: Thanks :)
FrothyCoffeeQueen26: Well it's not such a mysterious illness anymore!
no cure for crazy: Was the rumour mill as good in this as you expected?
Manydifferentfandoms: Hmmm, keep your theories at the ready we might be testing them in a few chapters time.
Seher Syed: I'm in my third year of University in Canada. (I just thought I'd put the distinction, because what Americans call community college is what we call regular college (two to three year courses to get a diploma), and all after high school institutes that have at least four years to get a degree are called universities, even if they don't have post-graduate programs.)
MyKeBlack: Not the Prophet this time, just the Hogwarts rumour mill!
Family615: Hey, I want to answer your questions more directly, so if you could please PM me, then I can give you some answers :)
zvc56: Well if you're just coming back from TTA then you don't need to re-read about the Holmwoods ;)
Thanks again to everyone for reading,
I hope you enjoyed it,
Please don't forget to drop me a review if you'd like,
And until next week, DFTBA!