Chapter 41: Revelations

Back in Leidfall, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Big Swede were told to make themselves comfortable. Helka was nowhere near ready to depart. She hadn't been expecting company today, let alone that it would compel her to leave the city she'd called home for almost two-hundred years.

Helka led them through the makeshift streets on the way to her home. Harry heard running coming up from behind them all. Helka looked back over her shoulder and had enough time to grin before someone with hair as red as hers collided against her shoulder. The girl glanced at Harry. Her eyes were just as blue too. She looked about ten or eleven.

"What's up with the outsiders?" who Harry assumed to be Idhunna asked. "Are they staying or something?"

"For the night," Helka replied. "They'll be set up at our place."

Idhunna exhaled harshly, her face wrinkling in the profile of it that Harry could see. "Oh. Can I stay at Gyda's?"

"If you want to." Helka wrapped an arm around Idhunna's before she could run off again. "Stay with me for a little while. I'm going with them tomorrow."

"Going where?" Idhunna's tone turned sharp and disapproving. "Why?"

"We'll talk about it at home."

Idhunna looked back at Harry again, her gaze this time full of reproach. While she and Helka took lead on the path, Ron leaned closer to Harry and lowered his voice. "Must be her daughter, huh?"

"Yep," Harry replied.

They couldn't really say much more. Idhunna glanced back again, suspicious because she couldn't understand English. She asked Helka, "You really trust them?"

"I do," Helka said. "The one can understand you. Don't be rude."

"Why do I care if he hears?" Idhunna held Harry's eye. "He's an outsider. I don't know him."

"He's here on behalf of a very old friend of mine. Now hush."

Harry figured Idhunna would've run off if Helka wasn't holding onto her. Helka led Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Big Swede into what must constitute as home for them. It was right adjacent to the central tree. It had a main area with a couple curtains leading off. Idhunna headed off for one, letting the curtain fall shut behind her.

"That's Idhunna's space," Helka explained. "Mine's behind that one. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable."

"We have a tent we could just set up," Harry said. "I think it would fit in here, if that's all right."

"Whatever you wish. I'm sure you're accustomed to different types of comfort than we are." Helka toyed with her fingers in front of her. "I haven't been among wizards for a very long time. I'm both excited and nervous to see how different things are. Your clothes don't look very different, although eyeglasses have certainly changed."

"Er, yeah." Harry had to take his off since they'd fogged up after entering Helka's home. "We were told to wear clothes that don't have metal on them. It would be disrespectful."

"Metal is a hamper upon magic. It interferes with our branch of Yggdrasil."

"'Yggdrasil'?"

Helka gestured in direction of the central tree. "Our city's focus. Which reminds me, I should decide if I care to use a wand or go with runes. Considering this isn't a jaunt for pleasure, I shouldn't rely on a wand. I'm out of practice." Helka paused. "If you care to settle in, I'll have Idhunna help me with that. I should talk to her anyway. She's quite against the idea of me going."

"Okay."

"There'll be a feast tonight honouring my departure." Helka winked at Harry. "Don't any of you bother eating beforehand."

Harry passed on the message to the other three before they went about setting up the tent. It took up a decent chunk of floorspace. Uncertainty that it was still all right compelled Harry to ask the next time he saw Helka, but she still didn't seem to mind. Helka didn't bother to cast a Silencing Charm while Idhunna whinged and argued with Helka about her leaving. Their voices weren't quite loud enough for Harry to discern what exactly they said. He only caught the tone.

Ron rubbed his growling stomach on one of the bunks while they all settled in. "That's really a language?"

"I can understand it." Harry shrugged.

"How're we going to fit Helka into Felix's car?" Ron asked.

Harry hummed. "We'll have to figure that out."

"Worst case, I don't think Felix would mind taking two trips back and forth," Big Swede said.

Those were details to hammer out later. The last time Helka had been anywhere near Muggles, the horse had been the best and fastest method of travel. Harry had no idea how Helka was going to feel about riding in a vehicle. He wouldn't even know how to describe it to her other than a moving box of metal.

Harry didn't worry about it for now. Helka seemed to have brought Idhunna down from irate to sullen. Idhunna had helped Helka put runes on her body in place of needing a focus, which Helka showed where they were visible on her arms. They all headed back toward the main hall. In another section of it, what had to be the whole city gathered to eat. It looked to Harry like this was a nightly affair. He hadn't noticed anywhere in Helka's home to dine, now he thought about it.

The setup reminded Harry vaguely of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. The elders had a table to themselves, at which Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Big Swede dined as guests. The elders' daughters had their own. Other families in Leidfall spread out elsewhere, rooted in one place but free to wander as they pleased. Harry wasn't sure how to feel about the citizens close to their age turning overly curious toward him, Ron, and Hermione. The young women in particularly were giggly.

Ron paid them a lot more mind than Harry. "Do you reckon it would be bad form?"

"Yes," Harry bluntly replied.

"Damn," Ron whispered before going back to eyeing the women.

Harry nudged Ron. "How would you even talk to them?"

"Who says we need a common language?"

Hermione scoffed on Ron's other side, which put Harry into a laugh after a snort. He caught a snippet of what Ron said afterward, something about hospitality, which made Hermione's eyes roll again. She was better humoured about it once she realized Ron wasn't serious, well enough so to entertain what he had to say about the women. Harry agreed with him that they were very pretty.

With food in his stomach, Harry was exhausted. They'd gotten up too early that morning, walked too far, and dealt with too extreme of weather for him to keep his eyes open. The tent was nice and toasty when they made it back after dinner. Harry didn't wake up until his bladder absolutely demanded it.

The tent smelled like coffee. Big Swede was up drinking some. "Morning. Made enough for everyone, if you're interested."

"Yeah, I might." Harry yawned on his way to the toilet. "What time is it?"

"Bit past eight. I've heard Helka and Idhunna up and about already."

"Should probably get going soon, huh?"

"Ja, probably."

Big Swede left it to Harry to nudge Ron and Hermione awake. Both of them were as sore and stiff as Harry from how physically demanding the previous day was. Big Swede didn't seem too bothered by it other than letting out what Ron had once called a dad grunt when time came to get up from the small table.

Helka and Idhunna sat together on a makeshift couch in their main area. They'd been talking but went quiet when Harry and everyone filed out of the tent. Idhunna fought off tears. When Helka stood, Idhunna was right behind her.

"She wants to walk with us to the border," Helka told Harry.

He felt bad when they got that far, escorted not only by Idhunna but Heimdall as well. Idhunna started to cry in earnest as she and Helka tightly hugged.

Helka sniffled too. "I love you. Be good. Listen to everything Tove tells you to do."

"I will."

Helka hugged Heimdall next. "Take care of everyone for me."

"Good luck."

The temperature was still below minus-forty. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Big Swede had bundled back up. Helka didn't bother, sticking to just one layer although ensured that all her skin was covered. She didn't need snowshoes. While Harry still struggled along with his, Helka basically meandered beside him.

"Oh," Harry said when they stopped for a rest. "We should figure out how we're all going to get back to Umeå. Our ride doesn't have enough room for all of us."

Helka hummed. "If you don't travel too fast, I could just wildshape and follow along in the air."

"I guess it would've been easy to assume you're an Animagus."

She laughed. "A crow."

"We can test it and see if you can keep up," Harry replied. "I'm not really sure how to explain how fast a car goes except with numbers that probably don't mean a thing to you."

"Sounds good."

Harry explained that to the others as they carried on. The further away from Leidfall they went, the quieter Helka grew. She looked back a lot. Harry wondered if she was having second thoughts. If those thoughts amounted to anything, Helka didn't speak of it.

As mid-day approached, the sun was better able to reach them down on the forest floor. Harry thought at first it was an illusion that steam wafted off Helka. It caught in the light, making her red hair look like it harboured a fire underneath. With how cold it was, Harry figured that some sort of magic in the relatively scant amount of clothing Helka wore was what kept her warm. Later on when they rested again, Helka dashed that conclusion. She rubbed her hands together. When she blew on them, she exhaled a spurt of flame.

Helka's eyebrows rose when she noticed the rest of them staring at her.

"Wish I could do that," Ron said.

He wasn't the only one. When they'd all retraced their path to Tallsjö, Felix hadn't arrived yet. They set up their tent and took turns outside watching for Felix. It was Hermione that poked her head in to tell the others he was there.

Felix was better dressed this time to handle the cold. He waved at them all, although seemed to falter when he noticed Helka. Felix called out to Big Swede in Swedish, and they went back and forth a little bit about it. In the end, Felix nodded with exaggeration to show his understanding of the situation.

Helka greeted him with a wave before moving closer to the car to check it out. Her eyes were wide in wonder. She had a chance to get a good look while the rest of them packed their things back into the boot.

"Ready to see if you can keep up flying?" Harry asked, snapping Helka's curiosity to an end. "What we'll do is drive for about ten minutes at travel speed once we get back on the main road. We'll pull over to the side then. Just come down and let us know either way. If you have to catch up, you could probably just ride in the car with us in that form. It might be awkward, but you could fit."

"All right."

Helka vanished with the same sort of ease that McGonagall did whenever she changed into a cat. As a crow, Helka was maybe on the larger side for the bird. Her wings shone a little red in the sunlight. Helka's eyes stayed blue. She cawed before taking off for the sky.

The highway shoulders had been ploughed since the first car trip. Felix pulled them over. Within a few moments, Helka landed in a perch on the driver's side mirror. She was able to keep up at sixty miles an hour, so they all raced the setting sun back to Umeå. It bordered on twilight when they reached the city limit. It fell too dark to fly in. They pulled over again, and Helka nestled on Felix's emergency blanket behind Harry, Ron, and Hermione's head.

They reached the same park where they'd first arrived at Umeå. When Ron climbed out of the car, Harry slid over into his seat. Helka hopped down from the blanket and used Harry and Hermione as cover to hide her transformation back into human form.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all thanked Felix for his help with shakes of the hand. Helka did the same, although Harry wasn't sure that was a customary way to do so in her own culture. She stayed closest to Harry as they headed toward the floo area.

"This'll be a weird question, but it came up while Ron, Hermione, and I were all figuring out logistics on the way back," Harry said to her. "Do you speak any languages at all other than Druidic?"

Helka nodded. "Dǫnsk tunga."

Harry had never heard of such a thing. He hummed. "That one might be dead, but I'm not sure. Hold on."

Big Swede listened as Helka spoke some phrasing in it. Without clicking and hissing, Helka's voice was higher than Harry expected. The language she spoke had a lot of tongue rolling.

Big Swede's eyebrows leapt up. "That's Old Norse. I learned it back at Kapsferd, but hell if I remember how to speak it."

The important take-away for Harry was that Helka could make the sounds required to navigate the floo network. She would've fared well otherwise until London, since the floo connections between major cities were predetermined.

They all jumped from Umeå to Stockholm, then west to Bergen. There, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Helka said thanks and goodbye to Big Swede. Big Swede left it open that if they needed him again just to send an owl. They continued on to London. From the Grand Floo Junction there, they jumped one more time to Ramstad Manor.

Harry lit it up with a wave of his wand. Helka looked around with the same quiet wonder as she had at other buildings and structures they'd passed through. She looked tired too, as well as slightly uncertain.

"It's so solid," she said to Harry.

"Yep," Harry agreed. He didn't really know what she meant, although understood at the same time. "This is where you'll be staying. If you don't mind, Ron and Hermione are going to fetch the head of our organization so that we can figure out how your visit here will go. We didn't expect to come home with anybody."

"Okay."

Ron and Hermione jumped back into the fireplace. When it was just Harry and Helka, he led her over to the foyer so he could take her upstairs. They headed for the master suite.

"This is where Hildegard and Dagmar lived," Harry told her. "Er—are you still going to call them by those names?"

"If it's what they prefer now." Helka nodded. "It's up to Hildegard if she wants to tell Dagmar the truth."

"I wouldn't count on her to do that."

Helka shrugged then. "Would it honestly harm Dagmar if she never knew?"

Harry had to agree, but only as things were. There were other things Harry had kept from Dagmar that hadn't seemed important at the time. The name Bjorn had only started as a means for leverage while Harry sought other information from Hildegard. Now look how important it wound up to be. Hildegard leaving the name Freja behind after her clan's extermination only offered certain insights to her frame of mind and power. Harry hadn't decided yet what to make of Hildegard saying her trust for Erik came from the fact they were both Ramstads. Clearly they actually weren't.

That seemed irrelevant for now. It slipped out of Harry's mind as Helka took in the sheer size of the master suite. The main part of it was almost as big as the entire place Helka called home. Her eyes went wide as Harry showed her into the bathroom. Harry gave her a quick rundown on how to use things like the shower, tub, and toilet.

"The closets here are where you're supposed to put your clothes," Harry said as he slid one of the doors open. "I was curious if you'd be interested in some. My mate works at a clothing store. She could take your size and see about finding some that would fit you."

"It's best that I blend in if I can, yeah?" Helka asked. "I'd like to try some on anyway. I bet some look really nice."

"The choices are pretty much infinite," Harry replied. "Cool. I'll go grab her. Feel free to settle in. I know this must be a lot all at once."

"Yeah." Helka chuckled a little, bordering on nervous. "I've never seen a place like this in my life. Things have definitely changed."

"A lot, and faster all the time too." Harry took a step toward the master doors. "I'll be right back."

Harry grabbed his bag off the great room couches on his way to the fireplace. Along with a view of the parlour when he arrived at Grimmauld Place, he saw Ron, Hermione, Pansy, and Dumbledore already gathered there. They all looked up at him when he stepped out.

"Hermione informs me that Helka returned with you," Dumbledore greeted him with, then continued when Harry nodded. "I thought it best not to just appear at Ramstad Manor when she might not be expecting somebody."

"She's expecting Pansy right now, but I told her you'd probably be coming too." Harry set his things by the parlour exit closest to the stairs. "And she already knows Ron and Hermione, so. . ."

Pansy's brow furrowed. "She's expecting me? Why?"

"She needs some clothes that won't make her stand out so much. You know, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all." Pansy lit up a little. "I could run to my place and grab my measuring tapes? I'll meet you all there if you're heading over."

"We could." Dumbledore stood. "I'm extremely curious about what you learned in Leidfall. It must be pretty significant if Helka thought it prudent she get involved."

"It is," Harry confirmed. "I'll go with Pansy if you three want to go ahead. I told Helka to feel free to get comfortable. I don't know if she'll come downstairs before I have a chance to properly introduce you."

"We won't be long anyway," Pansy said.

The two of them left ahead of Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore. When Harry stepped out into Pansy's living room, she pulled him into a quick, tight hug. "I guess we'll say hello more properly in a bit."

Harry chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Yeah, sorry. Things are happening a little fast at the moment."

"That's okay." Pansy headed for her sewing room. "I'm just glad I get to be involved this time."

"Well, you're honestly the best person for what Helka needs right now." Harry followed as far as the door frame. He leaned against it with his arms folded. "I think she's already feeling out of her element. Me and her have a common language, but she might feel better with a woman around. The way Leidfall is set up and from what I know about her past, I think she's more comfortable with them."

Pansy hesitated as she coiled up her measuring tapes. "Maybe I'll grab some other things before we head over too. There's nothing like a nice bath or something to make you relax. They probably didn't have anything like plumbing in Leidfall, did they?"

Harry shook his head. "For hygiene and stuff, my guess would be that they use magic to clean up. She just smells earthy like the rest of Leidfall."

"Ooh, is she ever in for a great awakening then."

Harry snorted, accepting the measuring tapes when Pansy held them out to him. He followed her then to the bathroom, where she started to bag up a variety of the things that lined her bathtub and clogged her vanity drawers. It endeared Harry how excited Pansy was getting with each new thing she thought to grab. Harry was quite resistant in past to Pansy's attempts to groom him, only allowing her to pick blackheads out of his back as compromise for him laying down a hard no at her plucking his eyebrows.

They jumped straight from there to Ramstad Manor. Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore's voices wafted out of the agape drawing room door. Harry led Pansy straight for the foyer stairs.

Helka hadn't bothered to close the master suite door when Harry left. Harry and Pansy exchanged a humoured look at the sight of Helka laid on the bed near the centre, her limbs splayed like a starfish. She lifted her head when Harry and Pansy approached.

"This is ridiculous," Helka said. "This bed would fit three or four people."

Harry laughed. "Hildegard and her mate used to sleep in it."

"I wish Idhunna was here to see this. She'll never believe me when I tell her about it." Helka sat up and scooted back to the edge of the bed, sizing Pansy up. "This is your mate?"

"This is Pansy." Harry said her name in English.

"Hi." Pansy greeted her with a wave.

"Hi," Helka repeated that in English. She stood and came over so that she could shake Pansy's hand. "She has kind eyes."

Pansy's gaze went more that way when Harry relayed what Helka had said. "Thank you."

"Did you happen to hear some other people come in downstairs?" Harry asked Helka. "Ron and Hermione are here, along with the wizard that leads the Order of the Phoenix. He's only expecting an update from me tonight. If you would rather just try and settle in, you could meet everyone else later. Unfortunately, I'm the only one around that speaks Parseltongue. I think Dumbledore can understand it, but that's it."

Helka considered that all with pressed lips. "I feel a little silly saying I'm already overwhelmed, but I am. I miss Idhunna a lot. I couldn't tell you the last time we were ever apart like this."

"Pansy suggested you might like to have a bath," Harry said. "You could do that up here while we all talk downstairs. Then we could find you something to eat. You're probably getting hungry, huh?"

"A little." Helka nodded. "A bath sounds lovely."

Harry translated that to Pansy, who beamed. She stepped off toward the bathroom and waved Helka to go with her. "Follow me."

Helka didn't need Harry to translate that. He himself headed down to the drawing room. "Pansy's going to draw Helka a bath and then she'll be down to join us."

"All right," Dumbledore replied.

They decided to wait. Pansy came in about ten minutes later, smiling as she closed the drawing room door. "Well, she's a fan of the tub."

"I wouldn't mind a hot bath after all the cold weather up north," Ron said. "I think I know what I'm doing when I go home, now."

"Same." A sudden shiver hit Harry's spine. "Shall we get on with it then?"

"I do believe the suspense has been built quite enough." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"I'll just cut to the chase then on the most important stuff," Harry replied. "Hildegard is a doppelgänger. When I told Helka how things went in Bergen with Voldemort and Dagmar, she told me that both of them will still be alive. They'll be sharing Dagmar's body. Helka figures Voldemort will be the one in charge. She couldn't say whether or not Dagmar is conscious, but she'll still be in there."

Any lingering sign of humour left Dumbledore while Harry talked. He regarded Harry with a straight face afterward, lips pressing and hands idly rubbing together where they were folded on the table top. "I see."

"Seeing as Hildegard is with them, that's why Helka came with us," Harry said. "It's been a while, but they knew each other for way longer than they were apart. Helka also knows what sorts of tricks Hildegard might have up her sleeves, magic-wise. She can help us prepare for that. Following all the logic and everything, I don't know who Bjorn could be if it's not Luca. We've seen how identical doppelgänger children are to their parent. Look at Hildegard and Dagmar. We got to see Helka and Idhunna, as well as the other Leidfall elders and their daughters. Helka explained to me how the process works for men who want a doppelgänger."

"Oh?"

Harry nodded. "They create the son the old-fashioned way and then place the soul fragment after birth. Helka told me it sounded like Hildegard had taken her own soul fragment out of Dagmar and replaced it with Voldemort's. That was the collateral Bellatrix was talking about. Hildegard became mortal. While she was pregnant with their son, Voldemort had a back up. Voldemort came after me before Bjorn was born. Since it's still a bit until Snape finishes that potion, I was going to talk to you and Gawain about approaching Blaise Zabini. If Luca is aware that he was adopted, I can't imagine him not telling his boyfriend."

"Me neither," Dumbledore replied. "As for myself then, it's all the more prudent that we ensure Hogwarts is defended against any attempt at insurgence. Hogsmeade weekend will have to be cancelled. Whenever you have time to act as translator, I would appreciate giving Helka a tour of the grounds so that she can give her opinion on where we're weak against druidic magic."

"Okay."

There were only specifics from there in the meeting, which turned it quite short. Harry intended to get Helka settled in tonight, report everything to Madam Bones' council first thing in the morning, and then go straight to Diagon Alley so that he could catch Zabini at Gringotts.

With things to do, Harry found it difficult to sit still through the Sunday evening. Helka finished her bath and then came downstairs for dinner. The house elves went all out on Ron's request. Although Helka seemed to be growing more comfortable in ways, she definitely grew quieter as the evening advanced.

"You think she'll be all right here alone for the night?" Pansy asked Harry. "Maybe someone ought to stay with her."

Harry shrugged. "We could, if you're not opposed to it."

Helka definitely appreciated the offer, as well as that someone wouldn't be too far away if she needed something. She was alone for a little while as Harry and Pansy packed overnight bags back at their places. They took the guest room closest to the master suite. Although Harry wanted to sleep so that the morning came that much quicker, he tossed a bit while his mind ticked on. Pansy squeezed his shoulder when Harry's sighs tended toward frustration.

"Can't sleep?" she asked.

"There's just so much to do. I can't stop thinking about it all."

"Would it help to write it all down, maybe? Then you can be sure you aren't forgetting anything. It'll be off your mind, anyway."

On that suggestion, Harry ended up sitting against the headboard until nearly midnight updating his notes. Pansy talked to him until she ended up dozing off. Whenever Harry reached a part of his notes that was either complicated or difficult to write, he'd pause to look at her. As tempting it was to push the loose hair out of her face, Harry had to resist. He didn't want to keep her awake any longer than she'd been able to. She already pushed it for his sake.

Pansy stayed with Helka in the morning while Harry went to the Ministry to brief Madam Bones on how his visit to Leidfall had gone. He was all the happier then that he'd stayed up to organize his thoughts. Otherwise, there were a couple questions from Madam Prickle he didn't think he would've been able to answer. Due to the importance of the situation, Madam Bones requested that Harry update her as soon as possible if he struck luck with Zabini. With that meeting dismissed, Harry jumped from the Ministry Atrium to Diagon Alley.

Harry's first impression in the bank's main area was that Eeylops had rented some floor space. About a dozen owls sat in a large enclosure. While Harry watched, a couple more flew in through the ceiling.

He approached the only goblin in sight, who was at work behind one of the teller windows. The goblin eyed Harry with suspicion.

"Banking business is done only by post at the moment," the goblin told Harry. "No in-person transactions, as per the lockdown measures."

"I'm not here for that." Sighing inwardly, Harry didn't think he would ever get used to showing his Auror credentials. He still felt like a prat. "Has Blaise Zabini come in yet today?"

The goblin picked up his glasses from where they hung around his neck. He studied Harry's badge hard before his gaze flicked back up. His brow remained low. "Is he in trouble?"

"No," Harry quickly answered. "I just need to talk to him."

"His office is that way." The goblin pointed down one of the corridors leading off the main floor. "On the left."

Harry's heart picked up as he headed on. The other offices were occupied as well. A mix of wizards and goblins all worked with their heads down and quills dashing across whatever parchment had cropped up over the weekend. A couple that stared off into space noticed Harry. None seemed friendly about it. They looked at Harry the same way the first goblin had, wary that someone other than their staff had entered the bank today.

Zabini's door was open. He was in the middle of taking a sip of what looked like tea when Harry leaned against his door frame. Harry didn't have a chance to knock. Zabini's brow furrowed instead, and he cut his drink short.

"Er, hello," Zabini stiffly greeted him, then braced himself. "You're not here to deliver news, are you?"

"News?" Harry repeated.

"That someone I know died or something."

"No," Harry refuted, which took the edge off Zabini. His rigid shoulders sunk a little as he relaxed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to give that impression. I'm here on Auror business. I need to speak with you."

"Erm, all right." Zabini glanced over his desk. "It couldn't wait until I'm not working? It has to be now?"

"It's not really something that can wait."

"Come in then, I guess."

Harry closed the office door behind him. "I only really have one question for you. It depends how you answer it if we'll keep talking. Are you aware whether or not Luca was adopted?"

Zabini blinked. "Why?"

"Was he?"

Zabini's analytic stare was enough of an answer to the affirmative for Harry's heart to pick up again. "He was. What about it?"

"What were the circumstances around that?" Harry sat down in one of the chairs in front of Zabini's desk.

Zabini hesitated. He picked up his quill for the sole sake of one-handedly toying with it. "I don't get why it matters. Are you investigating his mum about something? Why would anyone even care if she did something wrong? She's gone."

Harry's brow furrowed slightly. "Did she do something wrong?"

"Just like paperwork and stuff. Why do you care? Don't you have more important things to do right now?"

"I don't think that has anything at all to do with why I'm here." Harry would think about it later just to be certain. "It might explain some things, but Parasca isn't being looked at. I just need to know how she came to adopt Luca."

"Is it something about his birth parents, then?"

"Potentially."

Zabini toyed with his quill in both hands, now. "Luca's birth mum left him at the Auror office in Bucharest. There was a note saying she couldn't take care of him and things like that."

"When?"

"Erm. . ." Zabini looked at the calendar hanging on the wall beside him. "1983 sometime. The earlier part. Luca and Kat celebrated his adoption day like an anniversary every April. Luca showed up there just before Kat retired the first time. She thought it was a good time to try for something like a family. I don't know how close you were to her, but the way she told it she never cared to bother with a man or pregnancy. She was quite happy to skip all that. Then Luca happened to show up, so. . ."

"She named him?"

Blaise nodded. "He didn't come with one. Luca's always struggled with that, wondering if his birth mum just didn't bother. Or, if she did, what it was. It shouldn't matter since he was only a year old. It does, though."

Harry figured he'd feel the exact same way if Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had renamed him. There would have been such a void where the life initially intended for Harry was. Harry couldn't imagine the questions he would have. He wondered if Luca would regret this door opening for him once he knew the truth.

"Kat fudged his paperwork a little bit," Zabini hesitated again to repeat. "She pulled a personal favour with the Balkan Minister at the time. He rubber-stamped the application when Luca was registered. He's her biological son on paper. She didn't want to lie to Luca like that, so she told him when he was old enough to understand it had to be kept between them and Kat's parents. He wouldn't have been able to go to Durmstrang, otherwise. They don't like adoptees there because it's up in the air if they're pureblooded."

"I don't doubt that. Karkaroff was a piece of work."

Zabini exhaled like a spurt, amused for the barest glimpse. "So I've heard."

"Do you have anything physical from Luca's birth mum?" Harry asked. "You mentioned a note?"

"Yeah, Kat kept it." Zabini paused. "I have Luca's things at my flat, but I don't know if I feel right going through them."

"I don't doubt that, but it's really important I put the last piece of all this together," Harry said. "If I'm right about everything I've been looking into, then Luca might be in danger. I wish I was just saying that to blow things out of proportion or sound dramatic, but I'm not."

Zabini's face lengthened. He swallowed. "What kind of danger?"

"Thing is, I can't really say unless I'm completely sure Luca's who I think he is. It's highly confidential." Harry chewed briefly on his bottom lip. "But. . .I really can't ignore how much everything fits. It would be the hugest coincidence in the world right now if Luca wasn't."

"I'll let you look at Luca's adoption stuff if it's important enough," Zabini told Harry. "I wouldn't for anything less than an emergency. Not without his permission."

"At this point, it would probably only be confirming what I already know." Harry wished then he'd brought his notes with him, but he hadn't expected to get this far with Zabini. "The only thing I'm really not sure about is if Luca should know this stuff. For now, I mean. I don't think he's going to be happy to know where he came from."

For a moment, Zabini had looked keen. He grew wary again at mention of that. "Should I know, then? I don't know about keeping something from him. We're going to see each other next weekend in Hogsmeade for our first anniversary. I don't want to lie to his face the whole time."

"Dumbledore's cancelling Hogsmeade."

"Oh. Because of all this?"

Harry nodded. "If it makes you feel any better, I think this is also something that Malfoy would have to know. He spends a lot of time with Luca at Hogwarts. I haven't touched base about it specifically with Dumbledore yet, but it might factor in how any potential evacuation goes. Luca was one of the of-age students that signed on to stay if the school is attacked."

"Yeah," Zabini confirmed.

"He'll need to be removed in the course of evacuation. I think we could probably trust Malfoy with that."

"Yeah," Zabini repeated, then cleared his throat. "I guess if it comes to that, that's when Luca would know, right? You wouldn't be able to hide it from him for any longer. I'm just telling you that. If Draco tells him he needs to leave and then forces him to, Luca's going to want to know why."

"At that point, there'll be no hiding it. The priority right now is keeping him safe. He is, so long as he's at Hogwarts. He's going to have to know at the end of the year, at the very latest. It'll be very dangerous for him to go out into the world not knowing these things."

"So. . ." Zabini braced himself anew. "What things, then?"

Harry hesitated, for he wasn't sure what Malfoy might have told Zabini as far as Dagmar was concerned. He decided just to start at the beginning rather than try to build on Zabini's existing understanding.

"You might be aware there's a druid city up in northern Sweden called Leidfall," Harry said. "Dagmar and Malfoy visited it back in October. I just went there with Ron and Hermione this weekend to talk to the leader. She used to know Hildegard a long time ago. You took History of Magic through to the NEWT, right?"

Zabini nodded.

"You'll understand what I mean then when I say that Hildegard is a doppelgänger."

"Draco told me she was a lich."

"That's what we originally thought." Harry leaned back to sit up straight in his seat. "I started thinking otherwise last week, and Leidfall's leader confirmed it. She's one herself."

Zabini grimaced, his head bowed as he parsed all that through. "I mean, I noticed how much Dagmar looked like her mum. I knew that Erik Ramstad wasn't her father. She didn't have one at all, then?"

"Thing is, Dagmar wasn't Hildegard's only child," Harry continued. "Maybe they told you about Bjorn. It turns out that men can have doppelgängers too. They just can't carry the child themselves, obviously. Helka explained to me how that all works. The sons come out looking like their fathers the same way the daughters look like their mums.

"This was the type of druidic magic that Hildegard showed Voldemort." Zabini flinched at his name, which Harry ignored before going on. "Bjorn was younger than Dagmar. Based on what Bellatrix said to Dagmar about how Voldemort's phylactery was incomplete, we believe that means Hildegard was pregnant with Voldemort's doppelgänger when he had his run in with me on Halloween in 1981. Over the next year, Hildegard took up with another man named Magnus Norheim. In January of 1983, Magnus took Bjorn and disappeared. Bellatrix and Voldemort found Magnus this last fall, but Bjorn wasn't with him anymore. You see what I'm getting at, right?"

Zabini's face turning ashen was a clear indicator. "You're saying that Luca is Bjorn. But. . .he looks like You-Know-Who?"

Harry nodded. "I don't have a picture on me, but he's identical to what Voldemort looked like at his age."

"But that means he's identical? Luca's so sweet, though."

"Genetically, but personality clearly isn't determined like that. He's still who you know him to be. He grew up a lot better than Voldemort did, if you want to look at it like nature versus nurture."

"What's the danger, then? Is You-Know-Who still out there? What happened with Dagmar? Why did she die?"

"She was collateral while Hildegard was pregnant with Bjorn—Luca," Harry corrected himself for the sake of the conversation now. "We don't know exactly what's going on with Voldemort because this is unknown territory as far as the magic goes. What we do know is that Hildegard is still out there. She's already lost one child. With Bellatrix Lestrange leading the Death Eaters and able to weaponize Hildegard's grief and druidic magic, they might believe something could be done with Luca yet to bring Voldemort back. Hildegard probably just wants her son. The entire situation is very unpredictable, and we're not leaving anything up to chance. I don't know if it would be emotional or physical danger, but there's a big chance for either one or both of those to come by Luca. If they learn he's at Hogwarts, we're all expecting them to do the same to Hogwarts as they did Azkaban."

"Fucking hell." Zabini rubbed his face down with both hands. "So is anyone safe that stays behind to try and defend the school? Look what happened to the Azkaban guards."

"We're going to find out. Helka came back with me from Leidfall. I'm going to take her to Hogwarts soon to see about how the school could defend itself better if put up against whatever Hildegard could deal it. There's a consensus that we're not just going to abandon Hogwarts. It would be conceding ground that's way too important. If the Death Eaters gain control of Hogwarts, it would embolden them toward London. If that's where they hit, it's where they have to be stopped."

"What about Luca, then?" Zabini asked. "Where would he go?"

"Either Ramstad or Malfoy Manor with the rest of the students. Wherever Malfoy would take him, if he agrees to personally escort Luca out of Hogwarts."

"I don't see why he wouldn't. I don't want Draco at Hogwarts either, if shit hits the fan."

"He wouldn't be if he needs to make sure Luca stays put."

"He would have to. Luca signed on because he wanted to protect the school against the same people that killed his mum. He wouldn't change his mind when I tried to convince him. He'll be pissed when Draco tells him to leave, I can guarantee that. That might change if he knew all this, but I can't say that Luca would handle it very well at the moment. It was hard enough for him to lose Kat. She chose him, you know? Luca wasn't blind that life was otherwise not great for abandoned children in the Balkans. His grandparents are so far away right now too. He was feeling really lonely until Draco went to Hogwarts. He's perked up a bit now, but he's still vulnerable."

"Maybe you know better what Luca would do with all this information," Harry replied. "I don't know Luca well enough to say. He really isn't anything at all like Voldemort. We actually noticed his first day at Hogwarts that he physically resembled Voldemort. Back in her first year, Ginny Weasley had an encounter with a sixteen year old Voldemort through a magical memory of himself. She knows better than anybody who exactly Voldemort is. She'd also be the first to tell you that personality-wise, Voldemort and Luca are complete polar opposites. So I hope it doesn't make you think about him any differently."

"Not like that. I know him."

"What I don't know is how Luca would react knowing his birth mum is looking for him. I mean, I can guess. I was sort of adopted, and I'd want my birth mum too. It's a bit different because the family that took me in wasn't great to me, but I knew where I came from. I still had my name. Luca doesn't have that, like you said. He might not see all this as worth the trouble for him, but it is. There can't be a situation where he has the choice to give himself up. It might be a no-brainer to him in the moment."

Zabini held his hands together on his desktop. He didn't do it quick enough for Harry not to see the tremble. "He wouldn't want anyone to die for him."

"Before it comes to that, could I have that letter from Luca's birth mum?" Harry asked. "I have a feeling it might have actually been written by Magnus Norheim. I'd like to compare it against a sample if I could get one off his sister."

"It's—er. . ." Zabini trailed off with a thoughtful expression. "Draco said that Norheim was found in Paris, wasn't he?"

"In the Catacombs."

"The note is in French." Zabini paused. "My flat's under a Fidelius Charm, but I have to be at the Bank of England for one o'clock. If you meet me there about quarter-to, I'll grab the note on my lunch break."

"Okay." Harry doubted that would give him enough time to run to Trondheim to track Marit down, but that could come afterward. "I'd appreciate that."