Chapter 34 – We Need Help
From the Journal of Rose Weasley – 11 October 2013
I sent an urgent Stone Message to Mum: WE NEED HELP. EMMA AND I WERE WALKING ON THE GROUNDS AND THE GREENHOUSE BLEW UP RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. THE TWO REMAINING SUSPECTS CLEARLY ARE STILL AT HOGWARTS. YOUR AURORS WON'T RETURN OUR WANDS! WE REALLY NEED THE MARAUDER'S MAP AND ANYTHING ELSE TO HELP PROTECT OURSELVES. MY PROTECTIVE AUROR, REGINALD IS MISSING AND I'M WORRIED ABOUT HIM.
Mum replied almost at once that her protective aurors told her it was too dangerous to visit Hogwarts, so she wouldn't come. Harry would be here almost immediately. She was contacting her professor uncles and Prime Minister David to get British explosives experts to help investigate the explosion.
The three aurors whom Emma and I were tagging along with walked close enough to the greenhouse to make sure there were no injured people inside the rubble. They apparently had been trained to wait for help and not trample the evidence. They ordered us not to enter the area with all the debris. More aurors were arriving, then Uncle Harry was standing next to me, saying "Peters, please return their wands, they're with me."
"Yes, SIR." He replied as he handed back our wands. "Is there anything else you'd like me to do, SIR?"
"Yes, there is," Uncle Harry spoke softly, with an air of authority. "I'd like you to organise the search for Rose's missing protective auror. I'm very worried about him. It's not like Reginald to just disappear while on assignment. He's an excellent auror. Also, I'd appreciate it if you lost the snark. I'd give you other aurors to help in the search, but we are stretched perilously thin. Please let the other aurors know to be on the lookout for Reginald."
"Of course, sir. I just thought that Rose was rather uncaring about Reg. He is a special friend of mine. She doesn't know what happened to him. That struck me as strange."
"She reported him missing to the Minister. That is one of the reasons I am here so quickly."
I hastened to explain myself. "We were spying on the three suspect Dumbledore students. We knew they had a secret way out of Dumbledore House, so a lot of us were stationed in the corridors and important areas to see if they appeared. Reginald was a part of that. We were all either wearing invisibility cloaks or using charms to cause others to ignore our presence, or both. Reginald was cloaked, so I couldn't see him. He was watching me and the hallway beyond me from perhaps thirty feet away. Reginald wasn't a big talker, like some of my protective aurors have been. Even when we weren't on surveillance duty – yes, the Ministry and Headmaster Longbottom were aware of what we were doing, Reginald could go a couple hours without saying a word. He told me 'I'm old school. I'm supposed to fade into background, while keeping you safe. I can't be your friend or chat buddy."
"That's Reg," Peters admitted. "Sorry I was so hard on you. I'd better be off to search for Reg."
"We were in the basement hallway, between the Potions Lab and Potions Storeroom. Reg was closer to the storeroom than I was. We left the hallway for breakfast around 8:00 A.M. We travelled the direct route, from that corridor to the nearest moving stairs, they dump out on the main first floor corridor, turn left and straight to the Great Hall. There are a number of unlocked classrooms along the way. I hope that helps."
"Thank you. It gives a place to start. From breakfast, you came straight out here on the lawn?"
"Yes, we were outside for less than five minutes when the explosion happened."
I told Uncle Harry that I knew how much Freddie James pestered him for the Marauder's Map and the proper invisibility cloak, but that both would have helped us last night. They would have made us safer. We wouldn't have taken any additional risks, but what we were already doing would have been easier, more effective, and less dangerous. Then I shouted at Peters retreating back "wait a minute, we'll help you search for Reginald."
We retraced our steps. It didn't take all that long to find him. When we searched the Great Hall and left by the main corridor towards the basement stairs, we tried every door which wasn't locked. Emma pulled open the door to a small non-permanent staff office, right next to the stairs. Reginald was lying face down on the floor. We had to examine him very closely to find signs of life. After a cursory exam, I thought he was dead, but then detected a single heartbeat and a shallow breath. "We must get him to hospital at once, he's barely alive." Emma and I grabbed his legs as I gave this command. The aurors took his arms and back and we walked him out the main entrance to the hospital.
Uncle Harry met us before we reached the hospital and hovered beside us, until he detected a heartbeat from Reginald. He smiled and confidently declared "Draught of the Living Death! St. Mungo's can fix him." With that Harry turned to attend to other business.
I called after him "I think I have some answers."
He turned on his heel and was by my side, steering us away from the others for a private conversation. "Exactly what do you think you know?"
"We puzzled over the missing Liar's Milk since Parks hadn't drunk it. I think you need to test the other persons who were interviewed before the truth-tellers. Not just the students, everyone. Also, I was wondering why anybody would want to blow up the greenhouse. I would compare the list of potions ingredients stolen from the storeroom against the plant-based ingredients grown in that greenhouse. If there is a match, I'd hunt up replacement fast. You'll have to hurry, before the doctors can no longer tell who drank the potion."
With a quick "thanks, you really are a very smart Witch," Uncle Harry was gone.
Break
From the Journal of Scorpius Malfoy - 11 October 2013
I was tested by Doctor White an hour before lunch and then interviewed a second time by Mrs. Longbottom. She had two aurors to protect her from me. One had taken and was re-examining my wand. I told Prosecutor Longbottom that she was wasting her time on me and should be focusing on the Dumbledores. She asked if I had any Dumbledores in particular that worried me. "I'd start with the late-to-beds who gave a time-line for the other three. So, am I doped up with Liar's Milk or anything else?"
"No, you're clean Mr. Malfoy. Now tell me, did you have anything to do with the escape of the three Dumbledore students, or the robbery in the Potions Storeroom, or the explosion in the greenhouse."
Looking straight at the two court truth-tellers, I swore that of course I hadn't done any of those things. I had been on patrol all night, trying to make sure the three Dumbledores, whom I suspected of being spies on Hogsmeade Day, didn't carry out exactly the mayhem I and my friends had so totally failed to prevent. "If I am guilty, that is what I am guilty of. I was an awful spy. I'm sure one of them slipped right past me." I had to explain that all over again, but in much greater detail. She told me "close your eyes, clear your mind and THINK! What did you hear? What did you smell? Exactly what do you mean by 'I felt a presence pass me'? You know more than you think you know. It's in here!" She tapped me in the centre of my forehead with two fingers. She tapped me harder than she needed to. I thought as deeply as I could.
"The air around me was moving different. Too organised a fashion, like a slight breeze blowing from the stairs toward Dumbledore House. I heard a slight rustle, which could have been somebody walking, from perhaps twenty feet away. I sensed their passage, but never heard them again. I did get a whiff of stale sweat, but it was brief, and that corridor often stinks of students who got up too late to wash properly."
I was excused and the auror gave my wand back to me. I had remembered a little more, but not enough to be of any help.
Break
From the Journal of Freddie James Potter - 11 October 2013
I had my interview. I had been declared clean of potions. I told Mrs. Longbottom that I had already told all that I knew and that she should know that I was one of the good guys, who tried to prevent bat things from happening until the aurors could arrive at breakfast. What good did it do to question our team a second time? I was surprised that she gave me a serious answer.
"In fairness, we must check everyone's story, in front of truth-tellers and knowing the witnesses to be free of potions. I can hardly go to court and explain that I just knew it would be silly to question the members of Potter's Army. Besides, Mr. Potter, I've already learned a great deal. I'll tell you more after you've answered my questions.
I told her that there was no Potter's Army. In a nod to our parents, we are 'Longbottom's Army'. The Headmaster did encourage us to train and also to be on patrol last night.
"I see. As long as nobody believes you are my army. My son is being recklessly political and putting too many students in too much danger. He probably thinks he has no other choice, but I WILL speak to him. Now tell me where you were last night and everything you noticed."
"I was in the basement corridor. I was one of the spies outside the front entrance to Dumbledore - that's the old Slytherin House. From 6:30 P.M. it was me, Elvis Martin, Rose Weasley, and Rose's protection auror, Reginald, who were the closest to the entrance - actually a dozen feet on either side of it. Elvis and I were beyond the entrance. On the other side were Rose and Reginald. Further down the corridor, at the branch into the Potions Lab were Scorpius and Emma. The six of us held those positions until we went up to the Great Hall for breakfast - probably around 7:30. Iona and Eostre joined us around 6:00 A.M. and stayed through breakfast. They showed up in the Great Hall just as breakfast was almost over - maybe 8:30."
"I need full names. Were you referring to Iona Sparks and Eostre Tonks Weasley? And where were they, exactly?"
"Yes, that's whom I meant. Before we went up to breakfast, they were between Scorpius and me. After we went to breakfast, they took the spot where I was, and Reginald took the spot where Scorpius was."
"You said that a bit strangely. Are you telling me that Eostre, Iona, and Reginald were the only persons in that part of the basement corridor after 7:30 A.M.?"
"That's right. They were the only ones anywhere in the basement. Have you interviewed them?"
"That's the most interesting part, Mr. Potter. Eostre and Iona were the only students found to be under the influence of a spell -. a very sloppy Imperius, but enough to serve a purpose. Someone is playing a seriously deep game here. I will have to wait several more hours to interview them. You didn't notice anything off about those two young Witches?
"No. We were standing guard, so we weren't talking. We were all revved up, then we were all tired. As I said, they didn't join us until early morning. They didn't think they could stand an entire night of patrol. I only spoke to them, when I asked them to hold the fort, while we showed our faces at breakfast."
"Very well, Mr. Potter. You may take your wand and go. Don't repeat what I just told you, other than to your parents, if you feel that is absolutely necessary at this time. Oh, how well would you say you know those two Witches."
"I met Iona twice when Professor McGonagall brought her to visit my parents. I know her a lot better from Hogwarts. I'd say she was one of my closer friends. I saw Eostre a lot at home. She is my cousin and her Mum, my Aunt Luna, is a particularly good friend of my parents, so I probably saw her at least once a week for years. She's a second year, so I haven't spent a lot of time with her at Hogwarts."
"That's a close enough acquaintance with both of them that you should have spotted the effects of a major curse, wouldn't you think."
I admitted that yes, I certainly should have noticed that big a change. I said stronger than I did earlier in her questioning "they seemed normal to me."
Break
From the Journal of Iona Sparks - 11 October 2013
I'm scared. When Prosecutor Longbottom interviewed me, I could tell I was a suspect. She never came right out and said it, but why else treat me as she has, keeping me from the other students and Aunt McGonagall? And my mind doesn't feel quite right. I fear that I might have said something incriminating, or been caught in a lie, although I didn't try to lie. I'm innocent. It was no fun having to spend lunch in the hospital and then eat dinner by myself. I wish someone would tell me what is going on. Where is Auntie. She promised to protect me.
Break
Prosecutor Longbottom's Extended Notes of the Day - 11 October 2013
Finally! I thought those two would never make a run for it. Winston Saylor and Benedict Smith, Marshall's younger and dumber brother, were both caught sneaking out the rear exit from Dumbledore House. Of course, my aurors were waiting for their arrival. Bored out of their minds, waiting for those two to finally decide what to do. Just the barest trace of Liar's Milk still in their systems. They confessed their loyalties to those who attacked the Hogwarts students, although they themselves never attacked anyone. There wands confirm that story. Ollivander's say their wands are the originals they got prior to entering Hogwarts. So, timid souls, but baddies just the same. Why the Liar's Milk? Because they knew that Alexander and Marshall were hiding in Hogwarts' innards; because they had hidden the potions and ingredients, and because they know who our traitor is.