* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART FIVE
Blame it on Hate
Chapter 1: You Can Blame it on Hate
A/N: Thanks for reading the rewrite of The Eighth Year and Brave New World!
To anyone who has only read on , this entire section will be new to you, but it's been in progress on A03 for a while. It's finished, but it will take me a while to upload the complete story (I've got 100 chapters of content coming right on up for y'all!)
Breakdown of the entire series below:
Part One: Just Another Thing (Oneshot with insight into sixth year from Theo's POV)
Part Two: Last Call for Sin (20 chapters. Seventh year from the POV of those in Hogwarts)
Part Three: The Eighth Year (65 chapters. As the majority of students return to Hogwarts, house divides are torn down by new relationships and friendships)
Part Four: Brave New World (95 chapters. After surviving their final year at Hogwarts, the students whose relationships and friendships are explored in 'The Eighth Year' venture out into the world with big plans to change it.
Part Five: Blame it on Hate (100 chapters. Almost eight years after the war, everyone has settled down and started a family when a new threat arises that pushes everyone to their limits.
Part Six: Love Wins (Not written yet. In 2021, the war seems like a distant memory for most. But as the next generation of our gangs kids begin to embark on life's great adventure, it becomes apparent that the threat remains).
*** WARNINGS ***
Rated M for sexual content, violence and suicidal themes in one sub-plot
General warnings for this story;
Captivity, Four-way relationship, foursome sex scenes, polyamory, alcohol abuse/dependency, PTSD, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, past child abuse, bisexuality, anal sex, double penetration, oral sex, M/M sexual content, F/F sexual content.
ALL SEX SCENES ARE CLEARLY MARKED AT THE START OF THE CHAPTER and can all be skipped as they are not essential to the main storyline.
"Harry, I know you don't want to do this right now, but-"
"We have to," Harry cut in, "I know, John."
He sat down in the interrogation room, opposite the Head Auror (Jack Sumner) and his Assistant Head (John Sheppard).
Jack watched silently as John bowed his head, "I need you to go through everything that happened yesterday. Start at the beginning and give me as many details as you can."
Harry took a long, steadying breath and began, "It started like any other day…."
"Aw, look at 'em," Theo said with a grin, "So young and willing to get themselves killed."
Draco snorted from where he stood next to his Auror partner, "It's cute, how they come in so optimistic. Do you reckon we were like that?"
"Rob says we were," Harry said as he slipped out of the Homicide bullpen, "Have I missed anything?"
"Nah, where's your shadow?"
"Cleaning up the coffee he just poured down himself," Harry said with a grin.
Neville stepped out of the office muttering irritably to himself, "- And I'm not his shadow," he added.
Draco and Theo shared a knowing look, and the four men looked back to the recruits who were all lined up before them.
"Alright, everyone, listen up!" Sumner's voice barked from the front of the hallway.
Silence fell immediately, as it always did when the Head Auror spoke.
"We've finally had a bloody successful year!" Sumner said, "This year, we've got six recruits joining us. We're giving them a weeks downtime while we allocate departments for them, but I want you all to meet your new colleagues. Junior Aurors Euan Abercrombie, Owen Cauldwell, Benedict Smith, Stewart Ackerley, Dennis Creevey and Romilda Vane."
They all clapped, and Sumner ushered the recruits away, then barked, "Back to work then!"
"Owen Cauldwell? Relative of Sadie's, Theo?" Harry asked conversationally.
"Yeah, her cousin," Theo replied, "They don't talk much though because Owen's dad married a muggle and Sadie's dad was a bit of a dick about it. I think they fell out of contact before Owen was born."
"Ah, right," Harry said with a frown, "What house was he in at school?"
"Hufflepuff, I think," Theo shrugged, "What do you reckon of Dennis Creevey and Romilda Vane making it through, eh? Didn't expect that."
"I thought Dennis could do it," Harry said honestly, "Wasn't so sure about Romilda."
"I'm still not so sure about Romilda," Blanche said as she appeared behind them, "I think she shagged her way through. What do you reckon, Fee? You're the expert on that one."
Ophelia rolled her eyes, "I slept with Evan after I had graduated."
"So you keep telling us," Neville grinned, "Nice rock, by the way."
Ophelia smiled slightly, "He proposed last weekend on my birthday, also for the record, I did not sleep my way up like Romilda Vane. I just happened to fall in love with one of my trainers."
"Does anyone else feel like they're gonna vomit?" Blanche asked.
"Oi! Do you lot get any work done?" John asked as he stalked down the corridor.
"Oh, come on boss, you know we work our arses off," Neville said.
"Just not generally before 9 am unless there's a cold body needing avenging," Harry cut in.
John grinned in amusement, "Get your arses into the bullpen now. Nice ring, by the way, Wood. Lorne finally decided to ask you then?"
"Yes, sir," Ophelia said with a smile, "I'll put in a request to change my name to Auror Lorne before the wedding, so long as that's not going to be an issue?"
"Nah, course not. Evan works at the training centre, so there's no chance of any confusion there," John said with a smile, "Damn sight easier than having two Auror Woods running about between you and your brother."
"True," Ophelia said.
"We just need to marry you off, Zabini, so we can stop confusing you and your brother," John joked.
"Never going to happen, sir," Blanche said with a grin, "I prefer the fairer sex."
John snorted, "Get to work. Sorenson will be looking for you in Organised Crime."
"Sir, yes sir," Blanche agreed cheerfully as she grabbed Ophelia and dragged her along the corridor.
John shook his head in amusement and stepped into the Homicide Office, where the rest of his team were gathered. The other Senior Auror was a man called Aiden Ford, who was a few years younger than John. He had retired after being injured in the war but had recently returned to the job. One side of his face was severely burned, and he had a false eye. Unlike Moody's, however, this one didn't look realistic. There was just blackness where his eye should have been, and magic had been used to repair the nerve damage behind the wound. There were only four of them at the moment, but they expected to get a pair of Junior Aurors now that a decent amount had graduated from the training centre.
"Good morning, team!" John said happily, "It's a good morning because I got word from Jack this morning that we will most definitely be getting a pair of newbies!"
Harry shot Neville an amused look; they had both guessed as much.
"And it's about time a decent amount of kids graduated out of training," John continued as he poured himself a coffee, "Last year we only got two pairs, and I get why Jack didn't want to start them off in big departments but still, putting Montgomery and Pritchard in Missing Persons? That department doesn't need six bloody Aurors. I don't even think Fraud needed Madley and MacDonald, but hey, I'm just the Assistant Head Auror."
Harry shot John a grin, "You done?"
John pointed at him, "Quiet."
Aiden grinned, "Potter has a point; you are just having a whine."
John snorted, "Come on, I'm not the only one thinking it, am I? 2003, only Cross and Dobbs graduated and Organised Crime got them. 2002, only Hughes and Bishop graduated, and Arson got them. It's about time we get some newbies."
Aiden shook his head in amusement and slapped John on the back, "Shep, you know why we haven't gotten them. Arson needs six Aurors to operate. You know how hectic things get in there, and Organised Crime needed another couple of Aurors because Sorenson and Blaine had only just been promoted to Senior Aurors. Homicide has the wonder boys and us. Why do we need anyone else?"
Neville shook his head, "Two years, and they're still calling us that."
"It's stuck now," Harry chuckled.
"Speaking of promotions," John said, "Congrats, Harry."
Harry looked up in surprise.
John pointed his wand at his badge and murmured an incantation. The words 'Senior' appeared on Harry's badge.
"You're a Senior Auror," Aiden said, patting Harry on the back.
Harry grinned, "Thanks."
"Sorry, Neville," John said with an apologetic smile, "I argued your case, but Sumner reckons next year for you."
"Ah, I don't mind," Neville said honestly. He meant that, he had never been worried about being in Harry's shadow, "Well done, mate," he said to Harry.
At that point, a cheer from next door sounded. Followed by a "What?"
John chuckled, "That'll be Draco finding out he's been promoted, and Theo finding out that he hasn't been."
"How come you only promote one Auror in a pair at any given point?" Neville asked curiously.
"Just protocol, we never promote them both at the same time," John said with a shrug, "Higher-ups reckon it helps keep a healthy level of competition up in the department."
"Fair enough," Neville mused.
At that point, a memo flew in. John grabbed it and scanned the information, "Got a cold one, boys. Harry, Neville, you guys can handle this one but grab Wolfie on your way."
"Rob?"Harry frowned, "Is there a kid involved?"
"Yep, the dead guy is a single parent," John answered.
"Oh, fuck," Harry muttered.
"Your orphanage is busting at the seams, isn't it?" John asked.
"Yeah," Harry sighed, "I'm going to have to push the expansion forward at this rate."
John smiled sadly at him, "Too many unfortunate kids in the world."
"And they're getting a good life thanks to Lupin House," Neville said, putting his arm around Harry's shoulder, "Come on, Harry."
Before they had a chance to leave the bullpen, Draco and Theo stepped into the doorway.
"We're going to have to liaise with you on that murder."
"Why? What's it got to do with Vice?" Harry asked.
"Why so suspicious, Potter? You're the ones that always nick our cases," Draco muttered irritably.
"That's because most illegal drug and potions deals go wrong, ending in murder," Neville remarked with a raised eyebrow, "What does Vice want with our vic?"
"We reckon he's involved in that smuggling circle we've been trying to take down for the last four months," Theo answered before Draco could be petty about it again.
"The bastards that have been selling illegal love potions and opening up bloody pop-up brothels with polyjuice prostitution?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Yep," Theo replied, "His name has come up more than once."
"He's a single Dad."
"Anyone can knock a woman up," Draco remarked, "It doesn't make him a pillar of society."
John and Aiden sniggered at that from behind Harry and Neville. Harry rolled his eyes, "Come on then, put your sunglasses on like the couple of idiots that you are and follow us to the crime scene."
Draco and Theo shook their heads at each other as they fell into step behind Harry and Neville, "Why would we wear sunglasses to a murder scene?"
"I don't know, but we're the idiots?" Theo scoffed, "What are we going to do, blow the body up?"
"You did that once!" Harry's voice called from in front.
"No, we didn't!" Draco objected.
"It's not our fault that the guy had a bomb in his lungs," Theo agreed, "But we were prepared, weren't we?"
"You two couldn't see properly for a week," Draco agreed smugly, "Our sunglasses weren't stupid then, were they?"
"Shut up," Harry and Neville said in unison as they all left the Auror department together.
"So we got to the crime scene," Harry continued. He paused and took a sip of water, "And there wasn't much that we could get out of it. The victim was known to Draco and Theo, and he had been killed with the killing curse. We were pretty sure that it hadn't happened by the lake. We think the body was sent there via a vanishing portkey, making it untraceable."
Sumner and John both nodded.
"So we sent the body to St. Mungo's to see what the Medical Examiner could get from it, then we heard movement in the trees behind us. We all drew our wands, but the perp had already cast a curse on the clearing that we were standing in, which made the trees start to close in. We all jumped through gaps while we could, but Theo got trapped inside…."
"Theo, just use your animagus form!"
Theo shook his head as the trees continued to close in around him. There was one gap left to squeeze through, and it was gradually getting smaller; it was much too small for him to fit through in human form now.
"No, Rob will never let me live it down!"
"So you'd rather die than get embarrassed?" Harry roared over the noise.
"Just use it, you bloody idiot!" Neville agreed.
"Now!" Draco yelled.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Theo muttered as he shut his eyes and transformed into his animagus form. He shrunk down and darted deftly through the gap, straight into Draco's arms.
Rob looked at the tiny, fluffy creature and broke out into a grin, "A red panda? His animagus form is a red panda?"
"A baby red panda," Neville laughed.
Draco set Theo down on the ground, and he transformed back, shaking his head as he did so.
"That's cute, Theo," Rob said, unable to suppress his grin.
"Don't call me cute!" Theo warned.
"What you gonna do, cuddle me to death?" Rob asked in amusement.
Theo glared at the Senior Auror.
"Bite me with your eeny weeny cute teeth?" Rob continued.
Harry shot Neville an amused look, "He's going to lose it."
Neville nodded and slipped Harry a galleon, "My bets on Theo."
"Red pandas are vicious Robert-"
"No way, Rob's got this," Harry said.
"You didn't see Theo fighting the Carrows at school," Neville mumbled.
"Vicious? They are just like little fluffy teddy bears," Rob chuckled.
Draco took a step back and nodded, "Oh yeah, Theo can take him alright."
"Teddy bears?" Theo raged.
"How much are you putting on your boy?" Neville quipped.
"Ten galleons," Draco said smugly.
"Deal," Harry and Neville said in unison.
"I'm not a fucking teddy bear, and don't call me cute!"
Harry snorted in amusement as a scuffle broke out between Theo and Rob. It didn't last very long, and they looked pathetic as they rolled around on the grass together, punching and clawing at each other.
While all of this was going on, the perp was still running along the edge of the lake. Harry and Draco knew this and had been keeping an eye on his whereabouts while Neville watched Theo fight Rob.
However, Neville had just noticed, "Guys, the perp is getting away!"
The fight between Rob and Theo broke up at this point.
Harry rolled his eyes and clicked his fingers, "Expelliarmus."
The perps wand flew into Harry's hand.
"Stupefy," Draco said, thrusting his wand backwards.
There was a yelp behind them as the perp was knocked unconscious and fell into the lake.
"He's going to drown," Draco said, cocking his head in the direction of the lake.
"He probably killed that single dad," Rob said.
"That single dad liked prostitutes a little too much," Harry added, "He might have deserved it for all we know."
"Still…We should probably rescue him," Neville said grudgingly.
"Yeah, we probably should," Theo added.
"Well volunteered, boys," Harry said. He clapped his hands together.
A hand popped up out of the lake, followed by a head.
"Help me!"
Draco clapped Theo on the shoulder, "Go get him, tiger."
"I hate you."
Rob cackled loudly, "Pub, lads?"
"Great idea Wolfie," Harry grinned.
"I hate you all!" Theo yelled as he and Neville ran to the lake together.
"Just turn into a panda, mate. They are excellent swimmers!" Rob shouted, "And so fucking cute too!"
"I'M NOT FUCKING CUTE!" Theo yelled as the three Senior Aurors apparated away from the scene.
Harry let his head rest in his hands, "So Draco, Rob and I went to the pub for lunch. We figured it would be at least a couple of hours before Justin managed to get anything useful out of the corpse, and you know that I like to leave the perp in an empty room to sweat for a bit before I interrogate them."
"A very good technique," John agreed.
Harry would usually have smiled because John was only saying that since he had taught Harry that technique. However, he couldn't find it in himself to smile right now.
"Theo and Neville booked the perp in and joined us," Harry said, his voice beginning to shake a little, "And that was when they got a memo about a big lead on their smuggling op…."
"What's up?"
"Finnigan," Draco whispered, "We've finally got a decent lead. That informer of yours did turn out to be useful in the end, Theo."
"Even if Sadie did threaten to castrate me for befriending a hooker," Theo said with a roll of his eyes.
"That hooker has just contacted Mitch to tell him that a drop is happening in Knockturn Alley at noon," Draco said, looking up at the clock, "So we need to go, or we're going to miss it."
"We'll catch up with you later," Harry said, "We'll see what we can drag up, and we'll go and annoy Justin for some info."
"Alright," Theo said with a grin, "See you later. Reckon we're finally going to catch this piece of shit, Draco!"
They left the Leaky Cauldron together, and Rob yawned, "Well, suppose I ought to get back to CPS and drag one of the kids along to check out your vics kids living conditions with his grandmother. I hope they're okay because Lupin House is busting at the seams."
"I know," Harry said with a sigh, "But if the living conditions aren't good, Rob…you've got to get him out of there. I'll find room for him at Lupin House somehow."
"I know you will, Harry," Rob said, smiling at his colleague and friend, "You always do."
"So Neville and I went back to the office," Harry said, "And we started looking through some files, digging into our vics life a bit more, you know? Shep, you and Aiden were out on another case at the time."
John nodded to confirm this.
"And then all of a sudden this alarm started going off…."
"What is that?" Harry asked, looking at Neville.
"I don't know," Neville answered. They both got to their feet and headed to the corridor.
Aurors were coming out of doors everywhere. Some of the younger ones were peering out in confusion, and the older ones looked panicked.
The noise was coming from a light above the door of Sumner's office. It was flashing red, and a high-pitched alarm was being emitted.
The floo in the homicide bullpen activated, and Rob stepped out. He had obviously travelled in a hurry because he was covered in soot, "It's going off here too?"
"Yeah, what is it, Rob?" Harry asked. He knew it was bad; Rob's face was ashen.
"It's the man down alarm," Rob said, "I haven't heard it since the war."
Before any more could be said, Sumner and John stepped out of the Head Aurors office together, "Man down! Everyone on high alert, Wolfe, Longbottom and Potter, you're with us."
"Where?" Harry asked, dreading the answer.
John met his eye, "Knockturn Alley."
"And at that point, we knew that it had to be Draco or Theo," Harry said, clearing his throat and rubbing at his eyes.
John nodded, "I think it's time we paused for a break, Harry."
Neville took a shaky breath and placed his cup of water down on the desk. He looked up at Sumner and John and said, "So we apparated to Knockturn Alley with you two, and when we got there, it was immediately clear that there had been an explosion of some sort…
"Put in an urgent Patronus, Shep. We need Arson and Medical out here, stat!"
John nodded curtly and immediately sent an emergency response Patronus out to the Arson department and the Trauma department at St. Mungos.
They all put shield charms up and walked through the smoke, past debris from damaged buildings. People were sheltering in doorways or rushing for the safety of Diagon Alley.
"Everyone able, get to Diagon Alley!" John yelled, "You will get medical assistance, regardless of who you are."
"When we got to the place where it had happened…." Neville swallowed, "Outside Burgin and Burkes, there were bodies and blood. There was DNA evidence everywhere…we were…we were stepping in it."
"Have some water," John said, his tone gentler than Sumner's tended to be.
Neville had a sip and took another steadying breath, "And sitting in the middle of it was Draco…."
"Draco," Neville said as he approached his friend.
Draco was sitting in the doorway of what had once been a shop. He was staring blankly at a spot ahead, where the ground was blackened. The fire was ravaging Borgin and Burkes, but he wasn't looking at the fire. He was looking at that one spot of ground.
"Draco, what happened?"
Draco opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
"Neville, his hands," Harry whispered, his voice came out choked.
Draco's hands were clenched into fists, and they were glowing.
"Get him out of here now, Longbottom!" Sumner barked.
Neville stepped forward and grabbed Draco. He put up a strong shield charm and apparated them both out of the alley with a crack.
"I took him to this place I know," Neville said, aware of the tears running down his cheeks. He just didn't care enough to wipe them away, "He lost control of his magic, he was crying a lot and saying Theo's name, but I couldn't get any sense out of him. When he lost control, he drained his magical core and fainted, so I took him to St. Mungo's, and he hasn't said a word since."
"Thanks, Neville," John said, clearing his throat, "I know that must have been hard for you to re-live."
Rob's hands shook as he stared down at them.
"We…uh…well, we still had a job to do. That was when Arson and Medical arrived on the scene. Medical set themselves up in Diagon Alley, and Arson started grabbing victims and bodies out of buildings, putting the fires out and all that," Rob said, unable to look up at his fellow Aurors, "And we had to decide if we should call it in…."
"Hughes!"
A Junior Arson Auror in her early 20's turned to look at Harry. She had a kid over her shoulder.
"Is Moon leading the medical team?" Harry called over the roar of the fire.
"Yeah, it's her and Selwyn!"
"Tell her that the man down isn't Neville!" Harry ordered.
"I will!"
Without another word, Hughes put a flame-freezing charm around herself and ran through the flames.
Harry turned back to the crime scene, "Rob…I…."
"You feel sick, I know," Rob said, "I do too, but this fire is taking hold, Harry. It's been a dry summer, and most of the buildings in this part of the alley are wood structures. It's all going to go up, and we have to get the evidence out before it does, so get your head in the game."
Harry swallowed his nausea and nodded. They worked as quickly as they could, gathering swabs of any DNA evidence so that they could test it at the lab. There was a chance Theo could have escaped and that the body parts and the blood belonged to someone else. Harry clung to that chance with all that he had. They were almost finished when a shout came from behind them.
"Wolfe, Potter! We need to clear the area now! Borgin and Burkes is going to come down. Your window has just closed."
A mighty creak sounded above.
Rob grabbed Harry and yanked him up the alley to Ripley and Sullivan, the two Senior Aurors in the Arson department, and seconds later, what was left of Borgin and Burkes came tumbling down with a crash.
"I sure hope you didn't miss anything," Ripley said.
"Yeah, I sure hope so too," Rob said with a sigh, "Good fight, guys. You get everyone out?"
"All but the old man himself," Ripley answered.
"And that's no great loss," Sullivan said darkly.
"No," Rob agreed. Mr Borgin was hardly a pillar of society after all.
"Come on, kid," Rob said, gripping Harry's arm, "We've got a whole lot of witnesses gathered together in Diagon for medical assistance. These folk will be in the wind as soon as they're healed up. Let's not waste our chance to talk to them."
Harry nodded numbly and let Rob lead him out of the alley. Most of the little fires had been put out now, but it was taking all of the Arson department to try and control the huge blaze at Borgin and Burke's. The building had been so full of illegal potions and ingredients that every time they got close to bringing it under control, secondary explosions went off, and some made the smoke toxic. All the same, they spelled each other out, fighting the fire for as long as they could in bubblehead charms and then taking a break in Diagon Alley for fresh air and a bit of bagged oxygen courtesy of the medical team.
When Harry stepped into Diagon Alley, he immediately sought out Lilly. She was currently dealing with a patient in cardiac arrest, and although he couldn't hear her, he knew that she was yelling orders at a couple of trainee's while she shocked her patient.
Harry pulled away from Rob to walk towards her.
"And again…3…2…1…now!"
Lilly drew back and wiped her brow, "His hearts beating, get him some oxygen! Lucy, I need more oxygen bags over here!"
Harry stood and watched her for a moment as she knelt down and gave two kids an oxygen bag each, "Pop this on your face with this little string, see?" she said softly, "And just breathe nice and slow, no big gulps. Okay, poppet?"
The two girls nodded, and Lilly drew herself up once more. That was when she saw Harry.
"Clara! Cover me for two minutes!"
Clara looked up, saw Harry and realised exactly why Lilly had asked for cover, "I will. Lucille, hurry up with those oxygen bags!"
Lilly wrapped her arms around Harry as soon as she reached him, "I'm alright," he murmured.
With a sigh, Lilly drew back and looked him in the eye. Something she saw there told her that he was anything but alright.
"Where's Neville?"
"Controlling Draco's explosion of uncontrollable magic," Harry said quietly. As he glanced around at the medical triage area, he coughed hard.
"Did you have a bubblehead charm on down there?"
Harry shook his head, and Lilly smacked him on the arm, "You idiot! You should always put one on when you're near a fire. Are you trying to kill yourself?"
"Lil-"
"Take this," Lilly said, shoving a vial into his hands, "Now."
Harry knocked it back, and Lilly handed him an oxygen bag, "Little breaths, don't gulp it, or you'll throw up."
Harry took a breath of oxygen and breathed out appreciatively, "You're brilliant."
"And you're an idiot," Lilly said, but it was almost affectionate, "Who is it?"
Harry's eyes darkened.
"Vic told me that it wasn't Neville-"
Harry took another breath of oxygen, "Good, I asked her to do that."
"And then I asked if it was you, and she said no, you were the one who had asked her to pass on the message," Lilly continued quickly, "And it's not Rob because he's here. Did you have a bubble charm on?"
Rob shook his head.
"Take this and breathe this," Lilly said, thrusting a vial and an oxygen bag into his hands, "And don't be so fucking stupid next time. You both have children!"
"I know, sorry," Harry said. He had just taken a third breath of oxygen, and his head was feeling much clearer.
"And if Draco lost control of his magic, that means it's Theo," Lilly finished, realisation dawning on her.
Harry nodded.
"Is it un-healable?" Lilly asked tentatively.
"There's no body to heal," Harry replied.
Lilly's eyes flashed, but she said nothing.
"Lilly! He's coding again!"
"Keep sipping that oxygen until you can think clearly," Lilly ordered, turning on her heel and running back to Clara.
"I know that Lilly was just being cautious," Harry said, taking another breath, "But I think she was right. Sullivan said that the air was toxic, and I didn't realise how lightheaded I felt until she gave me that potion."
"I didn't either," Rob admitted, taking another breath of oxygen, "How clear do you feel?"
"Clear enough," Harry said, glancing at Lilly, "But let's make a quick escape before she catches us."
"Sometimes it's like you have two bloody wives," Rob muttered under his breath.
"Tell me about it," Harry whispered.
"And they're both hot, which is just completely unfair."
Harry couldn't bring himself to laugh. He knew that Rob was just trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't work.
Rob began the questioning, and after a few false starts, they found a woman who had been close to Borgin and Burkes when the meet went down.
"Yeah, looked like an illegal drop, alright," She said in a thick London accent, "These two Aurors was hiding out in the shop opposite Borgins waiting for it to go down. Anyway, the guy showed up. He was tall, had dark skin, and he was bald, looked early 20's, I reckon."
Rob noted all of this down with a quick-quotes quill while Harry nodded and listened intently.
"The guy he was meeting came out of Borgins, and they was talking in whispers. That's when the Aurors came out, telling everyone to put their hands up in the air and that. The guy yelled that he had a proximity charm on him for security reasons. The two Aurors came to a dead stop when he said that."
"Then what happened?" Harry asked anxiously.
"There was a lot of shouting," She said, "Then the dark-haired Auror took a step forward and the blonde one yelled at him. He drew his wand and said something, but I didn't hear what. He reached out, and then the next thing I know, there's this blast, and my ears are ringing. People was proper screaming and running, and the fire was everywhere."
Harry swallowed and thanked her. Then they drew back. He looked at Rob, "Proximity charm."
Rob nodded, "Big explosion."
"Hot explosion," Harry said quietly.
Rob's eyes met his, and they both knew it. They were both thinking the same thing, but Rob couldn't bring himself to say the words out loud.
"There's no way Theo could have survived that," Harry said.
"You could have," Rob pointed out, a bit too optimistically.
"Yeah, but Theo's not me," Harry said with a frown, "I train-" he took a breath, "- trained - with Theo all the time, I know his strongest shield charm, and it wouldn't have been strong enough."
"So that DNA evidence.." Rob said. He swallowed.
Harry nodded, "We're going to have to call it."
"We can't," Rob said, "It's got to go to a higher authority than us."
"So that was when I came to find you, John," Rob said, looking up at his friend for the first time, "And we filled you in about all of the DNA evidence that we had found."
John nodded. His eyes shone sympathetically, but he couldn't comfort Rob. He couldn't grab his hand or hug him. This was official business; they had to remain as impersonal as possible.
"And we asked you what you thought that we should do…."
Once Rob had finished telling John what their witness had said, the Assistant Head Auror sat down on an upturned barrel outside Eeylops and sighed.
Rob swallowed, and Harry knew that was a bad sign. He knew John better than almost anyone.
"I'm so sorry, guys," John said as he took his wand out of his holster.
Harry gripped one of the cages as another wave of nausea and lightheadedness hit him.
John held his wand up and said an incantation that caused red sparks to fly from the tip, then the tip of his wand glowed red.
"And the message went out to the whole Auror department," Rob finished, swallowing hard.
The man-down alarm sounded again, and everyone came out into the hallway. They were all on high alert, so they worried that the alarm meant that all hands would be required to deal with a crisis.
Instead, the red light flashed, and John's voice filled the room.
"Auror Theodore Nott. Badge Number: 1606802000. Killed in action at approximately 12.06 pm in Knockturn Alley on the 10th of August, 2005. In death, he receives a special commendation for impeccable bravery and will receive the posthumous badge of honour for his service. May we all take one minute to remember his sacrifice."
Blanche and Ophelia looked at each other with horrified expressions as silence rang through the department. Ophelia reached down and grabbed her friend's hand, and Blanche squeezed it back in response as they both looked at their boss.
All of the colour had drained from Sorenson's face. Blaine gripped his shoulder, and Sorenson leant back against the wall, letting his head rest in his hands.
The one-minute silence seemed to last for a long time, longer than any minute ever had.
When it was over, Sorenson made to leave.
"Sorenson, you can't," Cameron Mitchell, who headed up Vice, said, stepping in front of the taller, broader man.
"He's my brother-in-law, Mitch," Sorenson snapped.
"Yeah, which is why you can't," Cameron said firmly, "You need to let the Aurors on scene inform the next of kin."
"But the next of kin is my sister!"
"You know the rules, Sorenson," Cameron said simply. He looked at Blaine, "Blaine, keep him in the Organised Crime bullpen until the next of kin have been informed and then make him take the rest of the day off."
Blaine nodded and grabbed Sorenson's arm, "Come on, man, you know the rules."
Sorenson yanked his arm out of Blaine's but walked into the Organised Crime bullpen all the same.
In the absence of Sumner and John, Cameron spoke up, "I know this is hard for everyone. A lot of us trained Theo, and all of us have worked with him. Some of us for longer than others, but this touches all of us. That alarm going off today was a first for a lot of you, and for some of the old-timers like me, I bet it just reminded you of the war."
There were a few nods at these words.
"But we have work to do," Cameron said, "And we need to be here to support the Aurors who were on the scene. This is hard for us, it's going to be even harder for them, and it's going to be hell on earth for his partner. Just think about how you would feel if it was your partner, and remember that gut-wrenching feeling when Draco eventually manages to walk back into this bullpen without his best friend by his side. Okay?"
They all nodded, and Cameron said, "Back to your bullpens."
Blanche pulled Ophelia into a hug, and Oliver snuck over from the Vice bullpen, "You okay, Fee?"
Ophelia shook her head and hugged her brother tightly.
"He was a damn good Auror," Oliver said quietly, "It was a pleasure to work with him these last couple of years, but I can't imagine how much harder it is for you two. You all trained together."
"Yeah," Blanche said, clearing her throat and trying to fight the tears in her eyes, "Yeah, we did."
"You okay to resume the interview, Harry?"
Harry nodded and took a sip of water, "After you called it in, Elizabeth came out of the CPS building."
John nodded, "To confirm what she had just heard through the man-down alarm, that's right."
"And Rob and I started to feel pretty ill…."
"John!"
John pulled Elizabeth into a hug. There were tear tracks on her cheeks, "It's true then?"
"Yeah, Liz," John said, "It's true."
"But…what…I mean…how?"
"Proximity charm," Harry answered quietly, "Half of Knockturn is gone."
"Where is Draco?" Elizabeth asked, looking around, "And Neville?"
"Neville took him away when he started to lose control of his magic," Harry replied. The nausea he felt increased, and he began to feel more lightheaded than ever.
Rob gripped onto a cage too and said, "I think we breathed in more of those toxic fumes than we originally thought."
"Yeah," Harry said as the world began to swim in front of him.
"LONGBOTTOM!" John yelled.
Lilly looked up, and John called, "Oxygen bags over here!"
She grabbed a couple and ran over to them. Lilly handed one of the bags to Elizabeth and said, "Hold this on Rob's face."
Elizabeth did so, and Lilly held the oxygen bag against Harry's mouth. She looked up at John, "How long were they down there for?"
"About ten minutes," John replied.
"Ten minutes without bubblehead charms?" Lilly asked angrily, "I'm going to bloody kill them both! Clara! I think these two idiots have damage to their lungs. I'm going to need to get them to St. Mungo's."
Clara nodded and called, "Arson has the fire under control. I'm going to grab Hughes and Bishop; they can help me heal the last few, so you're good to go."
"Elizabeth, can you help me transport them, please?" Lilly asked, looking up at the older woman.
Elizabeth nodded, "John, you need to inform the next of kin."
"I know," John said with a nod, "I know I do."
"Elizabeth went to the hospital with Healer Longbottom," John said, "Rob and Harry had tissue damage to their lungs which meant that they were going to need an operation to remove the damaged tissue, then they would have to take a potion to regrow the tissue. They were going to be out for a few hours, so it fell to me to inform Theo's wife of his death."
"Which you did at his home?" Sumner clarified.
"Yes," John said. He frowned down at this hand, "Yes, I did that at his house…."
John hated standing on the doorstep of an Aurors home, waiting for a face to appear at the door and then look crestfallen. It was always worse when a child answered the door.
The door opened, and a house-elf smiled, "Good afternoon, sir. Mistress Sadie is very busy in her writing room at the moment."
"I'm sorry," John said, "But it's very important. It concerns her husband."
"Oh," The elf nodded, "Of course, mister. Come in."
John stepped into the house and swallowed as he was faced with a hallway lined with magical photographs of Theo's beautiful family. In all of the pictures, his twins faces beamed out, and John felt a lump rise in his throat. He was a father, and he knew exactly what these children were about to be deprived of.
"Mistress Sadie is being in the library next door, sir," The elf said, "You takes a seat in the kitchen, and I bring her."
John sat down in the kitchen, unable to take his eyes off the pantry door where countless hand-drawn and hand-painted pictures were pinned up. His eyes fell on a wizarding photograph above the dining room table. It had been taken last Christmas. Theo and Draco were at the centre of it, and their wives stood on either side of them. Draco was holding his eldest child, Elladora, who must have been around one and a half at the time. Their youngest child, Caspian, wasn't in the picture because he hadn't been born yet. He was only two months old.
Charlus and Almina were smiling out of the photograph as they stood in front of Theo. They were five years old now and had started attending the same private muggle primary school that Harry and Daphne's eldest child, Teddy, attended.
John's attention shifted as he heard heels clicking along the corridor. When Theo's wife stepped into the kitchen, she looked incredibly pale.
"What's happened?"
"Are your children here?" John asked.
"No, they are at school," Sadie answered, "What's happened?"
John swallowed and said, "I am obliged to inform you that your husband, Auror Theodore Nott, Badge number 1606802000-"
Sadie drew her hand up to her mouth, "No."
John fought the lump in his throat and continued, "- died in action in Knockturn Alley today at approximately 12.06 pm."
"No!" Sadie yelled, "No! He can't have! He can't be dead! I'd feel it. If he was dead, I'd feel it!"
"I am incredibly sorry, Mrs Nott-"
"No!" Sadie screamed, "Get out!"
John bowed his head and left the house as quickly as he could. He had seen every reaction to the death of a spouse that there was in the years he had done this job, and Sadie's was well within the restraints of normality
John took a deep breath as he stood on the doorstep of number 11 place. He closed his eyes and thought about his boys, Jackson, who was 13 and about to go into his third year at Hogwarts and Grayson, who had just turned 11 and started Hogwarts that year.
"Then I apparated home briefly," John said quietly, "I needed to see my kids and take a breather so that I could walk into St. Mungo's with a clear head."
Sumner nodded, "What happened when you got to St. Mungo's?"
"It was pretty chaotic in the Trauma Ward…."
"Longbottom! What's going on with my guys?"
"Rob and Harry are in post-op," Lilly replied, skidding to a halt in the corridor, "It went well, they're being force-fed a potion to regrow the damaged tissue, but they'll be awake within the hour. I'll try and keep them in overnight for observation, but Harry will force me to let him leave so that he can tell Daphne about Theo."
"If he needs to stay-"
"I'll stay at Potter Manor and observe him from there," Lilly cut in, "It's my night off anyway," she gripped John's arm as she had a slight wobble.
"Are you okay? How long have you been on the go for?" John asked.
"A while," Lilly replied.
John forced her into a chair, "You save all of us every day, but you need to think about yourself too. You can answer my questions from a comfy chair."
Lilly usually argued it, but as a wave of nausea hit her, she simply nodded.
"You gonna throw up?"
"Maybe."
"Did you inhale any of that toxic smoke?" John asked.
Lilly shook her head, "No, I was nowhere near the smoke. It's just the exhaustion. I was meant to finish at noon. I was on the graveyard shift last night, but then the man-down alarm came in so it was all hands on deck."
"When did you last sleep?" John asked.
"I've been at work since 6 pm yesterday," Lilly yawned.
John sighed, "I'll have to knock that husband of yours into shape."
"Nah, you won't," Lilly said, smiling weakly at John, "Cause I reckon he's just as annoyed at me."
"What the bloody hell are you still doing here?" Nevile asked in disbelief as he stepped into the corridor, "You should have finished at noon! It's nearly 3 pm!"
Lilly shook her head, "The man-down alarm came on as I was finishing. How's Draco?"
"He's drained his magical core, and I'm worried about his mental health, but Lucille is sorting him out," Neville answered, "I just sent Clara into the Auror department to pick up Sorenson. They need to get to Sadie. She'll need help getting the twins from school while we deal with the fallout. Where's Harry?"
"Post-op."
"Post-op," Neville asked in alarm, "What happened to him?"
"What happened to him?" Lilly asked angrily, "Him and Rob are idiots who stand next to toxic flames for ten fucking minutes without fucking bubblehead charms on. That's what happened to him!"
"Lilly, calm down," Neville said, kneeling in front of her.
"I'm sorry," Lilly said, letting her head drop into her hands, "I'm just so tired, Nev, and now Theo…."
"Is he…" Neville looked at John.
John nodded, "I called it after we spoke to the witnesses. Nobody can survive a proximity charm going off within a metre of them, Neville."
Lilly let out a little sob, and Neville drew her into his arms, "You need to go home, baby."
"I can't," Lilly said tearfully, "Clara's gone. Who's going to cover her?"
"Not you," Neville said firmly, "You finished three hours ago. You need to go home."
"Take her home," John agreed with a nod.
"But Harry-" Neville began to say.
"Has Rob," John finished, "And I'll be hanging around here for hours talking to people. Get your wife home and maybe give her a sleeping draught. She's in shock, and she's exhausted."
Neville nodded, "Thanks, sir."
John just nodded and patted Neville on the shoulder, "I'm going to need you in the office at 9 am sharp tomorrow. I'll have to drag everyone who was on the scene through every detail for Jack's investigation report."
"Investigation report?" Neville questioned.
"Something we've got to do when an Auror dies on duty," John said quietly.
Again Lilly let out a choked sob. Neville tightened his grip on his wife and pulled her to her feet, "Come on, Lil. Let's go home."
"Neville took his wife home, and I checked in on Rob and Harry in post-op, but they were still out cold," John told Sumner, "So I went to check on Draco. He was just beginning to stir when I got there, but he wouldn't talk or he couldn't, I don't know which it was…."
John showed his badge, and Lucille nodded, "He won't talk, sir."
"Has his wife been informed that he's in the hospital?" John asked.
Lucille shook her head, "No."
"Floo his home address immediately and let her know," John said, "He's in shock, and she is going to be the best person to draw him out of that."
"Yes, sir," Lucille said.
John walked into Draco's private hospital room as Lucille left to make the floo call. He sat down next to Draco's bed. The blond man was staring at the wall, but it was like he was looking straight through John.
"Draco, I need to know what happened."
Draco said nothing.
"If you can't tell me, for whatever reason, I will need to extract the memory," John explained, "But I need your consent to do that, so if you can, please give me a small sign that you consent."
Draco blinked twice.
"Okay," John said, placing his wand on Draco's forehead, "Legilimens!"
He shut his eyes and saw the memory swirling right at the forefront of Draco's mind. He pulled it out gently and placed it in a vial that he had taken from his robes.
"Healer Williams is informing your wife that you are in hospital. I expect she will be in to visit you soon," John said, pushing himself to his feet, "And we all know what you are going through right now. We're all here when you feel ready to talk."
Still, Draco said nothing, so John bowed his head and left the hospital room. In the corridor outside, he bumped into Hermione. She had both of the children with her, Elladora, who would turn two in a few weeks, was holding her hand, and she had two-month-old Caspian leaning against her shoulder, fast asleep.
"Auror Sheppard," Hermione said quietly, "What happened?"
John frowned, "Have you not spoken to Theo's wife? I thought she might have informed you. I was always under the impression that you were good friends."
"We are," Hermione said, frowning, "She's my best friend, but I was out with the children this afternoon, and when I got home, she wasn't in."
John nodded and looked down, "In that case, I regret to inform you that at approximately 12.06 pm this afternoon, there was an explosion in Knockturn Alley and Auror Theodore Nott, Badge number 1606802000, was killed in action."
Hermione swallowed.
"Mama?"
Hermione blinked away the unshed tears in her eyes, "Yes, baby?" she asked Elladora.
"Dada?"
"Yes, we need to see your dada," Hermione said, clearing her throat, "Excuse me, Sheppard, I need to see my husband."
John didn't miss the coldness in her voice, but he stepped aside anyway. He had seen many reactions to death, Sadie had reacted with anger, and Hermione had reacted coldly.
"At that point, I left the hospital," John said. He cleared his throat, "And brought the memory that I acquired from Draco here. As it was nearing the end of the day, I thought it would be best if we watched it together as part of the investigation today."
Sumner nodded, "And this is it?"
John rolled the vial across the table carefully, "This is it."
Sumner tapped his wand on the table, and it parted, revealing a hidden pensieve. They used it regularly to check that perps weren't lying about their alibis. He poured the memory into the pensieve and motioned to John, "Shall we?"
John nodded, and they plunged into the memory together…
"There's a rumour going around that you're the one to ask if someone needs to acquire rare and dangerous objects."
A tall, bald man with dark skin turned around and snorted, "There's a rumour going around that you're an undercover Auror."
"Ah, good thing that I was never one to listen to rumours then," Theo said as he and Draco stepped out of the shop front that they had been hiding in. The guy doing the drop had just met with a small, ratty man who had his cloak hood up, hiding half of his face in shadows.
Behind him, Theo knew that Draco was subtly reaching for his wand, but he couldn't draw his wand subtly, so he relied on his partner to have his back.
"Any chance you'll sell us some of that love potion then?" Theo asked.
"No chance," The bald man said as he drew his wand and pointed it at Theo.
"Saw that one coming a mile off," Draco murmured from behind Theo.
"You and me both."
"What are you two whispering about?" He asked sharply.
"Oh, just about how you won't kill us because you're stupid, but you're not that stupid. Killing an Auror gets you life in the worst corner of Azkaban after all," Theo remarked.
"Theo, stop mouthing off," Draco muttered.
The perp laughed, "I'm not stupid enough to kill an Auror, you're right. But if a freak explosion happened to go off…well, I wouldn't get the blame, would I?"
Draco raised an eyebrow, "Freak explosion?"
"Proximity charm," Theo said, looking their perp in the eye.
"So you're the smart one," The perp said with a smirk, "Yeah, I got a proximity charm on me. Boss likes to use 'em for security. Make sure we ain't followed."
"So he puts your life at risk for security?" Theo asked with a raised eyebrow, "Some boss, huh?"
As he said this, he looked in the perps eye, but Draco had no idea what he was expecting to see there.
"No fear…" Theo whispered, leaning back a little so that only Draco could hear him, "He knows he's going to die. He's always planned on blowing up the whole street and himself with it."
"And us," Draco hissed.
"Yeah, us too," Theo agreed.
Draco shook his head in disbelief, "How do we keep getting into these situations?"
"15 years of friendship, and I still don't know," Theo returned. He shot Draco a smirk over his shoulder and said, "But I have a plan."
Theo took a step forward.
"Theo, what are you doing?" Draco yelled.
Theo didn't answer, but he reached out towards the perp, and then the explosion wracked the street, throwing Draco back with the force of it.
"There was nothing that Black could have done," Sumner said to John.
John nodded his agreement.
"Can you state that you agree, Sheppard?" Sumner asked, "For the record."
"Sorry, sir," John remarked, "I do agree that there was nothing that Black could have done."
"Then that concludes the investigation," Sumner said, "No one at fault in the tragic death of Auror Theodore Nott. Badge number 1606802000. Ruled simply as death in duty on the 10th of August at 12.08 pm in Knockturn Alley. DNA evidence has been given to the morgue for analysis, and the case will be pursued by Senior Auror Sheppard and Senior Auror Ford from the Homicide Team."
* ~ TBC ~ *