The men in white robes lowered their wands and Nestor's mother returned to the group to guide them up to the house. Brandt and Tina were still on edge and kept their wands in their hands. Newt had returned whatever was in his hand to his pocket.
"Why is there such heavy security?" Brandt asked Nenita.
"They are always there when guests arrive, though they've stopped doing it when I arrive with Nestor or Tammy. After Nestor refused to tell me a few times, I stopped asking."
"It's got to be for an active threat," Tina chimed in. "The guards were not doing a security check, they were looking for someone trying to infiltrate the home, an act of sabotage, or a proxy attack. Whatever it is, it's serious."
Tamara led the group into the house to find Nestor's grandmother waiting for them, with a folded white cloth in her hands. As Nestor's mother stood to the side, Aurora approached them and unfolded the cloth to reveal a cracked pink crystal. Without saying anything, she held it out to Lyra, which made the fragments glow brightly.
"So you're the one they were looking for?"
She held the crystal fragments closer, as if she was expecting something else to happen. When nothing did, she started to turn back, but as the fragments got closer to Harry, they started to vibrate, and little bits of pink electricity arced between the pieces.
"Interesting… I will be keeping my eye on you," she said to Harry. Without adding anything else, she folded the cloth back up and exited the room. Everyone watched her leave, then turned to Nestor's mother.
"Don't look at me," she raised her hands. "My mother will do things like that from time to time. If there is a reason for what she's doing, you can only wait to see if it reveals itself. Once, when I was twelve, she tripped me as I was getting ready for a slumber party and I couldn't go while I got my ankle fixed. All the girls at the party contracted glow pox and were out of school for two months."
"So is there any point in asking her about this necklace she bought for me?" Nenita pulled out the jade ring around her neck, but Tamara just shrugged.
They were led to a wing of the house with extra bedrooms to get settled in. Nenita told them that Nestor would probably arrive soon and she'd come back with him, then left them in a small sitting area room near the bedrooms.
When they were alone, Harry asked, "Do any of you know what that crystal was?"
"It was a diviner's crystal," Newt informed him. "I would assume it was the same one that was used to locate Lyra when they found the island. Nestor should be able to confirm that later. Though why it had any reaction to you, Harry, is a complete mystery to me."
Brandt was looking through one of his journals, after examining a few pages, he turned to Lyra, "While we have a few minutes alone, have you thought of anything you would want if the Filipino Ministry asks for more access to the island?"
Lyra frowned, "We have everything we need there, what could they offer us?"
"They will continue to provide the island with the best protection possible in exchange for the demiguise hair you are providing, that is for sure," Newt told her. Turning to Newt, "Do you have any idea what else they could be interested in?"
"Nestor and the others have been gathering hoohoo feathers, they'll probably want to send a wandmaker to gather feathers from the birds, as willingly given feathers will make for more powerful wands."
"The Giver wants a wand," Harry told them. "He's seen what we can do with ours, and it's much more versatile than a staff."
"That may be difficult," Tina told them. "I'm pretty sure that non-humans are not allowed to carry wands in this part of the world."
"We'll need to ask Nestor about that," Newt added.
"I would suggest that if they want more from the Island, that you give them less of the demiguise hair," Brandt said. "Currently, the only thing they are providing for you is the maintenance of the ward stones around the island, and Nestor and his people keeping tabs on things, though with the wards in place, it's not particularly necessary."
They continued to try to think of ideas for things the children could want as well as what would be beneficial to the island but came up with nothing. The only thing that was a problem for the island was the possible encroachment of poachers, but that had been taken care of for now. While Newt could think of dozens of things for the study of the creatures and plant life on the island, none of those interested Harry and Lyra who just thought of it as home, not a research facility.
After close to an hour, one of the guards from before came to them and told them that Nestor had arrived and they were being called for dinner. They were seated at a long table with Aurora at the head and Tamara and Nestor to either side of her. Nenita sat next to her boyfriend and the guests all arranged themselves in the empty spots. The guards in the white robes did not join them and stationed themselves outside of the room. When everyone was seated, two servants brought in many salads, and everyone was served the first course.
Nestor broke the silence, "So, my day was filled with paperwork, and setting everything up for tomorrow, what did all of you get up to?"
Lyra smiled, "I got a bag of feathers, from a sarimanok. When we get back home I'm going to have fun playing with them."
"They are only used for ceremonial purposes," Nestor remarked. "Who sold them to you?"
"She actually got them for free," Nenita smiled.
"How?"
"Harry performed a service for the owner of the menagerie, he killed a sigbin," Brandt told them.
A fork fell with a clatter on their plate, everyone looked to Aurora who was staring at them with a shocked expression on her face.
"You killed an Aswang?" she said with a hushed voice.
"It was just a sigbin, not a real aswang," Nenita told her.
She dismissed the young woman with a wave of her hand, and asked, "How did you kill it?"
Harry was feeling very put on the spot, but responded, "The store owner told us that he was trying to find a way to destroy its shadow, my magic can create light from everywhere. I thought it would work, and it did."
She mumbled some words in another language, and even her daughter and Nestor seemed unable to understand her.
When she finished mumbling, she told them, "You received a bag of feathers for this service?" Everyone nodded.
"What was the name of the man you did this for?" she demanded. Brandt began to pull out the card he had received, but before he could say anything, Aurora wandlessly summoned the card directly to her hand and stared at it. "Kadin, I should have known. I will need to go talk to his mother tomorrow."
"Mother, what is going on?" Tamara asked.
"The service Mr. Potter provided has not been performed for some time. Kadin will most likely be paid a small boon for the dead animal, not to mention the removal of such a dark stain from our lands. A fair comparison would be the killing of a lethifold."
The others, except for Harry and Lyra, all gasped at the comparison.
Newt leaned over to the children, and said, "Another dark creature, known only to be killed by piercing it with the horn of a unicorn." He looked back to Aurora, "From what Mr. Kadin told us, the sigbin could be killed through normal methods though, while a Lethifold cannot."
"Either the boy didn't tell you or he doesn't know himself," Aurora said with a bit of anger. "Killing a sigbin through 'normal' means inviting death on you and your loved ones. While the body might die, the shadow lives on. When it has been able to reincorporate itself, it will seek revenge and drain its attacker dry."
Everyone's eyes went wide at this. Newt pulled out his miniaturized journal right at the table, expanded it, and jotted all of this down in the section he had been writing earlier in the day for the creature.
Aurora waved her hand and the card soared through the air back to Brandt. "If this man contacts you again, make sure that you ask for quite a bit more than a bag of feathers for Mr. Potter's services. He could ask for nearly anything he would like up to around one young or two old house elves, depending on the size of the creature."
Brandt's eyes widened and did not fall back down as he looked between Aurora and Harry. He pulled out his own journal and scribbled information down before closing it again and storing it in his pocket. There was silence for quite a while longer until Aurora broke the silence again.
"So, Miss Black, what do you plan on doing with the sarimanok feathers?"
"Well… all the feathers I've experimented with seem to have their own magic in them. I'll play around with them until I find out what they have. Most of them relate to the bird somehow, the hoohoos make a fire that calms your mind, an orange and black owl from the island creates silence, post owl feathers can find things, and there have been a few others that we haven't found a use for in our daily lives."
"What are the sarimanok known for?" Harry asked.
Newt answered, "They are mostly known as symbols of good luck and fortune. They're also chickens, and in some places, you can find some incredibly expensive dinners made from their meat."
Tamara smiled, and added, "There is also a legend about one of the birds transforming into a handsome young man and stealing away a sultan's daughter to live happily ever after. They are supposedly excellent fishing birds as well."
"We could probably use them if we repeat the blessing we did in the village or the common room," Harry suggested.
"They could replace the golden snidget for the eighth ring in England, or the sixth ring here," Lyra added. "It would depend on how many colors we would need to maintain balance."
The children continued to chatter away at the different ways to rebalance the blessing with various other plants, animals, and potion ingredients they had discovered at Hogwarts. After trying to follow their conversation for a minute, the adults started in on their own, except Brandt, who was keeping one hand in his lap as he ate, which was holding a small glowing blue orb.
Harry woke up early the next morning to prepare for their meeting. He dressed in his new barong shirt; white with satin lining and golden embroidery on the front. He wore black slacks and shoes, plus the belt with the stag on the buckle he had received from Brandt for Dumbledore's party. He finished the ensemble by attaching his bottomless pouch to the belt and strapping his new wand holster to his right arm.
He exited the room to find Brandt already in the sitting room, going through some paperwork. He just nodded and continued going through the papers. At approximately eight, Nestor's family and guests met for a quick breakfast before Flooing to the ministry. It was a short distance, and Harry only staggered a little on arrival.
Nestor escorted Harry, Lyra, Brandt, Newt, and Tina through security. Their wands and staves were inspected by two men wearing red and blue uniforms in the same style as the men in white at the Balindong Vila. From there, they took a lift up to a floor where Nestor pointed out a conference room and told them to wait outside and he would be right back.
"Are you children ready for this?" Tina asked them.
"I guess so," Lyra said quietly.
Harry pulled out his staff to reassure himself, with Lyra following suit as well. They stood around for nearly ten minutes before Harry asked what time it was.
"It's five minutes after nine," Newt informed them.
"They're making us wait on purpose," Harry mumbled. "I'm going inside."
He turned around and opened the door to the room before anyone could object. There was no one else inside waiting for them. One side of the room was taken up with rows of small chairs, with one long table in front containing six chairs, All of these were facing a half-ring of raised seating with five seats looking down on the long table. Harry understood the purpose of this room immediately.
He stashed his staff and walked up to the raised seating area, moving one of the chairs right next to the one in the center, then motioned to the rest of them to come and join him as he pulled his staff back out and sat down in the center.
"I don't think we are supposed to be sitting up there," Newt told Harry, as Lyra joined him in the chair next to him and Brandt sat down as well with a large grin on his face.
"I think that if Nestor's government is making a request to Lyra and me, they should do it while looking up to us, rather than down at two defenseless little children," Harry said while trying desperately to keep a straight face.
Tina failed to do so, and gave a short, barking laugh, "Well said, Mr. Potter." Then to her husband, "Come on, dear, let's join him, though just for observational purposes." She took him by the hand and led him to the two remaining chairs on the raised platform.
Nearly five minutes later, a group of men in American-style business suits walked into the room and stopped dead. They stared at the group sitting in their seats, with two children sitting in the center, wearing traditional Filipino garments and gripping large magical staves. Nestor was among them, though he just smiled as he shook his head.
An older man among them, maybe in his sixties or seventies, spoke up, "You are all sitting in our seats."
Brandt was about to respond, but Lyra spoke out first, "Our meeting was supposed to start at nine. At our school, if a desk doesn't have a name on it, we can sit where we choose."
Tina was biting her lip, as her husband stared in shock. It took Brandt a moment to recover from his before he smiled with pride.
"You are not in your school, young lady," the man responded, while poorly suppressing an annoyed tone. "This is the Filipino Ministry."
Harry twisted his staff in its place, which seemed to give him a boost in strength and confidence, "It is, and I'm sure you have many meeting rooms where we could all look at each other face to face, but you chose this one. I figured this just evened things out since children are much smaller than adults." Tina was doing a much worse job to keep a hold on her bottom lip now, as it quivered. Nestor was also biting his tongue.
The older man couldn't say much more without coming out and admitting that he chose a courtroom for the meeting to intimidate the children. So he simply pulled out the center chair and sat down, with the other men taking the seats next to him. Each one of them pulled out a small business card and tapped it with their wands. They quickly transfigured into triangular nameplates. Nestor stood up on the far side of their table to introduce the group as Brandt started fiddling with his wand under the table.
"Harry, Lyra, I would like to introduce you to my colleagues; Cesario Tangkiang Capillo, from the Naval Law Enforcement Division," a young man, with a deep tan stood up next to Nestor, and gave a brief nod before sitting back down. The next men stood and nodded, as they were introduced, "Asa Nangpi Villanueva, Deputy Chief Obliviator; Brendan Declan Magday, Assistant Secretary to the Minister; Caiden Preston Alejo, Foreign Affairs Office."
Nestor paused before the last introduction of the man who had spoken up first, "Raphael Braulio Cámara Gutiérrez, Department Head of the Invisibility Task Force."
After Nestor sat back down, the man, Raphael, looked like he was about to stand up, but Brandt beat him to it. He pulled out from under the table some nameplates that looked like they were made from ivory with gold etched into them and levitated each of them over to the members of his group.
"Allow me to introduce our party; Newton Scamander, Author, and Magizoologist; Porpentina Scamander, Retired American Auror; Harry James Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived; Lyra Cassiopeia Black, Heiress to House Black; and I am Steward Brandt of House Black." He placed his own nameplate in front of him and sat down.
There was a bit of silence which might have been awkward if the group of government officials had been staring down at a couple of children, but as they were looking up at them instead, it was almost comical.
The man from the Foreign Affairs office seemed to notice this and cleared his throat to begin speaking, "Mr. Potter, Miss Black, we asked the two of you to come here today to try to help us resolve the situation pertaining to the island you live on as well as the natural resources that are contained there. The demiguise hair you have already started providing to us will help to increase how effective our law enforcement is in the region, and eventually do well to provide a small boost to some departmental budgets for the government. We would like to explore the options to increase the flow of this commodity and others from the island."
"What else are you interested in?" Lyra asked.
The assistant to the minister's secretary, Brendan spoke up, "We would like Mr. Balindong and his team to continue their efforts to catalog the island, but we would also like to send a specialist to work with the Hoohoo nest and attempt to gather more potent feathers for wandmaking."
"No," Lyra said simply. Harry whispered in her ear for a moment, then she added, "It is too dangerous, either you will hurt the birds, or the birds will hurt you."
Brandt pulled a small square object out of his pocket and said, "I can attest to the danger of the situation, I took this picture seconds after apparating away from the mountaintop without even approaching the hoohoos, only having one look at me."
He held his wand to the object and cast a Lumos spell, which projected the slide he was holding in his hands on the wall. It showed the mountain from down on the beach, with a vortex of a crimson flame being projected from the ridge, at least 150 feet into the air. Lyra smiled at the awesome and beautiful flames while the assembled government officials looked on with a mixture of interest and fearful glances.
The assistant replied, "I assure you, we have specialists who have worked with Hoohoos on other reserves and will not harm the birds. They will be able to safely gather what they need."
Brandt replied to them, "If Miss Black and Mr. Potter agreed; we would need your government to sign paperwork that you will not hold them responsible for any casualty incurred in your undertaking, nor will pursue any attempts to take resources by force from the animals on the island."
"This is not necessary," Raphael Gutiérrez said as he stood up angrily. "The island is in the territorial waters of our government. The children here have no legal standing with our government, and they are children. We are extending you a courtesy right now, they will need to agree to our terms if they wish to continue to live on the island or move permanently to their homeland in England. Our ancestors have dealt with Spanish colonization, we will not subject ourselves to the British."
Harry wasn't sure how to respond to this statement, he and Lyra looked to Brandt, but it was Tina who answered him.
"Mr. Gutiérrez, your government is doing a commendable job extending civility to the children here, in regards to their home. However, you need to remember that it is their home. They have lived there, cultivated the land, domesticated the animals, and shed blood in its defense. If you can show historical records of your government's actions in doing the same on the island, we would be interested in seeing them. If not, it is Mr. Potter and Miss Black that are extending the courtesy to you for this meeting, not the other way around. They are not doing this as citizens of the British Government, but as residents of the island itself. You do not need to fear colonization."
The man looked to be extremely displeased in the way that he was being addressed, and just as he was about to respond, Newt stood next to his wife and addressed him.
"Additionally, Mr. Gutiérrez, I assume it is your job to keep places filled with magic, like this island away from prying eyes. It seems to have gone undisturbed for generations, surely you must have records for this, or did you have nothing to do with it?"
The man narrowed his eyes at Newt and Tina before responding, "I had examined our records extensively before this meeting. I could not find any action my department had taken in regards to the island. It seems to have been protected by other means than our government."
The first man that had been introduced, Cesario Tangkiang Capillo, tried to explain the situation, "From the reports we have received from Mr. Balindong and others that I have gathered from members of law enforcement; some of the protection comes from the naturally occurring fear ward on the North-western side of the island. It acts as a deterrent to people passing by as well as keeping much of the wildlife away from the island in general, except for the South-east corner where the demiguise village is located, and the larger mammals on the North-east side."
"That deduction is probably very accurate," Newt informed him.
"Thank you," he responded with a polite nod. "My department's interest in the island is more of a strategic one. We are interested in setting up a supply station on the beach where Nestor's... I mean, Mr. Balindong's team is currently located. We would want to keep a ship and other supplies there for law enforcement purposes in the region to take advantage of the natural protections of the island. Members of the law enforcement already oversee the maintenance of the ward stones on the island."
Harry and Lyra saw Nestor wiggling his fingers on the end of the table trying to draw their attention. He gave a small nod towards Cesario and nodded his head. Lyra pulled out a black and orange feather and motioned for the others to come closer to them. Among the Ministry employees, only Nestor understood the significance of it. When everyone in Harry and Lyra's group was closer, she activated the silencing effect of the feather.
"What's going on?" Tina asked.
"I think that man is Nestor's friend," Lyra said quietly.
"They look to be about the same age," Brandt added.
"I don't remember seeing him with the warding team," Harry told them. "Though if he works with their Aurors, he probably knows Nestor from there."
"If he works with their Naval forces, maybe they could investigate the sunken ship from the poachers," Tina commented. That got Harry and Lyra's attention.
"You've shown us that you've taught the demiguise village how to fish, would boats at the beach disrupt the fishing at all?" Newt asked them.
"They don't fish at the garbage beach, maybe it would be better for them to set up there?" Harry pondered.
"Go ahead and tell him what you would like in exchange for his request," Brandt told him.
Lyra canceled the silencing effect and they turned back to the government group.
"There are a few things we would be interested in asking for, in exchange for the supply station being set up," Harry began. "For starters, it would need to be set up on the garbage beach on the east side of the island, where all the junk washes up from the summer storms. Too much activity near the southern beaches would disrupt the fishing activity of the Hidden."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Cesario smiled, "Many of the warding team have told me that they helped the demiguises set up the warehouses there and vanished the undesirable junk you didn't reuse. I'm sure they would be happy to continue that arrangement. What else are you requesting?"
Lyra took over, with a grim look on her face, "A little over a year before we were discovered, there was a group of poachers that came to take the Hidden. They were killed and their boat was sunk off the coast of the island."
"And you want us to investigate that incident?" Cesario asked.
"As a member of the Naval Law Enforcement Department, I believe it is your job to do so even if the children did not make the request," Tina said sternly.
"That shouldn't be an issue, but I can't promise any specific outcome," Cesario said.
Raphael Gutiérrez stood up and looked to Cesario, "Mr. Capillo does not have the authorization from his supervisors to engage in an international investigation, and that is exactly what this is. As you have stated, the island does not belong to my government, so an investigation into any criminal activity that took place on it would not be in our jurisdiction. The Senior Superintendent would need to sign off on the investigation along with Mr. Alejo's department head."
Brandt stood up to look down on this man, "We can give you the time to get the authorization, however, if it takes too long for you to begin, the supply station will not be set up. Additionally, while you might have an endless amount of bureaucracy in starting an investigation, I'm sure that House Black of England could send a team of Bloodhounds to the region to get to the bottom of the situation."
Cesario didn't seem to understand the implication of Brandt's use of the word 'Bloodhound,' but Mr. Gutiérrez and Villanueva, plus Newt and Tina did. They all looked a bit uncomfortable at it.
Brandt continued, "Do not worry about them entering illegally, we will make sure that they have all the proper documentation to operate within your borders. Or you can speed up the authorization for the investigation, and get a nice place to park your boats at the same time."
Cesario nodded, "You can count on me to work on the authorization for the investigation. I will stay in contact with Mr. Balindong as to when Miss Black and Mr. Potter will allow us to start construction on the docks at the Eastern Beach."
Raphael Gutiérrez was trying to suppress a sneer.
Newt tried to smooth over the situation, "Regarding the gathering of the Hoohoo feathers, you had mentioned sending an expert to the island. May I inquire as to the name of the person you had in mind?"
"Are you familiar with Kidlat Makisig Pelayo?" Brendan Magday asked.
Harry's eyebrows rose at the name, "We've heard of a wandmaker called 'Old Man Pelayo,' is he the same man?"
"He is," Brendan replied.
"We were going to try to visit his shop before we left, could we meet him on the island in the next few days?"
Right before he could respond, there was a knock on the door, and a man about Brandt's age came in with some files. He did a double-take at the group sitting at the raised table, then looked straight at Harry and nearly jumped back in what looked like fear.
"What is it, Claudio?" Raphael asked the young man.
He kept his eyes on Harry and Lyra as he walked with a small limp over towards Mr. Gutiérrez, passed him a file then left the room in haste.
After looking through the papers, he gave a small, but sinister smile, then just looked back towards everyone else and nodded back to Mr. Magday.
Brendan responded with an indecipherable look, but then turned back towards Harry and Lyra, "I will try to arrange his arrival for Friday, as I assume you will be leaving on Saturday."
"We just want to meet with him," Harry said. "In exchange for him collecting feathers, we would want him to craft a wand for our tutor on the island and teach him the basics of how to use it."
"Is this the Duwende we have heard about from Mr. Balindong?" Mr. Gutiérrez said a bit harshly. "We do not permit halfbreeds to use wands, so that is out of the question."
While The Giver wasn't quite family, he was their tutor, and Harry wasn't going to let this man insult him.
Harry twisted his staff back and forth on the floor which gave him a feeling of strength as he heard the grinding of the wood on the floor. "I'm sorry, you don't permit them to have wands? I thought we had already established that the island didn't belong to you." Raphael looked angry and tried to stand up but had slight difficulty with pushing himself up. "If you want to gather feathers on the island, our tutor will need to have a wand made for him, and he will need to be trained in its use. I have a feeling we will need to speak to Old Man Pelayo about this directly."
Harry stopped twisting his staff and Raphael jumped to his feet, "How dare you speak to me like that! I can see spending your time around creatures and halfbreeds has not taught you manners or how to respect your elders."
Harry was about to yell back at the man but Brandt interrupted him, "Mr. Gutiérrez, while Mr. Potter may have been out of line, he did speak the truth. It is not for you to impose the laws of your government on this island. I would also like to know what you are contributing to this meeting. Mr. Balindong is here for the Department for Regulation of Magical Creatures, Mr. Capillo is here regarding your government's territorial waters, Mr. Villanueva might be here regarding the possibility of muggles happening upon the island, Mr. Magday is representing the Minister's office, and Mr. Alejo's presence is explained by the need to deal with an entity outside your government." He paused for a second to take a breath.
"However, I do not see what purpose you serve at this meeting. Your job should have been to keep this island a secret from the muggle world… if you knew about it beforehand. However, you did not, and it was only pure luck that the muggles didn't build a Club Med next to one of the largest demiguise habitats in the region. Therefore, you and your department don't appear to have a stake in these negotiations. Mr. Caprillo's warding teams are in charge of keeping the island protected, not yours. So again, why are you here? You seem to be making grand statements and demands with nothing else to offer. So, respectfully, I think you should leave this discussion to the rest of the officials present here."
Everyone in the room stared in silence at Brandt. Tina was making a face like she would be whistling if there was any sound escaping her lips, while Newt was nodding his head with an expression that seemed to be saying, "Not bad." Both Harry and Lyra were looking at him with admiration and astonishment.
Raphael Braulio Cámara Gutiérrez, Department Head of the Invisibility Task Force, stared at Brandt with loathing. However, with nothing to say, he just picked up the paperwork in front of him and left the room.
Once he was gone, Brandt addressed the remaining members of the Filipino Ministry, "I humbly apologize for what just transpired. I understand completely that your laws prevent you from issuing a wand to many types of non-humans. My outburst is solely due to my position to protect these children from all that may threaten them. However, Mr. Gutiérrez is not fully correct in his statement about the distribution of wands." He pulled out a paper from his pocket, and continued, "Your laws prohibit the issuing of wands to many different types of non-humans, but every one of them is listed specifically. The Duwende, even if they are similar to Dwarves and Goblins, were recognized as a different species before they were thought to be extinct. Your current laws relating to wand ownership do not prohibit them from being issued to a Duwende, so they currently fall under the same category of non-humans as Veela, part-giants, part-goblins, and a few others."
The remaining members of the ministry nodded in agreement to his statements.
"I will speak with Pelayo before he pays you a visit to make him aware of your request," Brenden Magday told them. "I do not know how he will respond but I'm sure he will still want to meet with you regardless."
"Is there anything else that we need to discuss while we are here?" Brandt asked the assembled group. He specifically looked to the Deputy Chief Obliviator who hadn't yet taken part or made any requests.
The members of the ministry looked up and down the table at each other, but none of them had anything to add. Nestor spoke for them, "We will probably want to have another meeting when the children are out of school. Though, for now, I think that covers everything, unless Harry and Lyra have anything more to add."
The children shared a quick look, before Lyra said, "I don't have anything else, we look forward to meeting Old Man Pelayo. Thank you for meeting with us."
Harry bit down on his lip before adding gruffly, "Please extend an apology to Mr. Gutiérrez. Next time we speak, I hope we can do so more cordially." Tina and Newt smiled at his words, as did the members of the ministry.
Harry and Lyra's group came down from their higher position and shook hands with the members of the Filipino Ministry before they headed out to do whatever people in government do after an important meeting. Once they were all gone, Lyra pulled a silencing feather and activated it.
"What do you need to say, Lyra?" Brandt asked.
"I really didn't like that man that yelled at us. It was amazing how you got him to leave."
"We do need to figure out why he was at the meeting though," Tina added.
"But Brandt said he didn't have a purpose," Harry looked confused.
"He wouldn't have been there without a reason," Newt explained.
"Correct, Mr. Scamander," Brandt nodded. "He had a reason he didn't want us to know about, I was hoping he would be angry enough at me to tell us what it was when I called him out, but he did not disclose it. He certainly had a reason he attended the meeting, and it is one he wants to keep a secret from us, and some of the other members of his ministry. I'm also nearly certain that another one of the people in the room is part of it. Which do you think it was, Lyra?"
Lyra looked towards the empty table where they had been sitting and seemed to think for a moment before saying, "That Asa guy, the Deputy Obliviator. He seemed to have only slightly more of a reason to be there as Raphael."
"That is most likely the case," Brandt nodded.
"What's a Bloodhound?" Harry asked, and Lyra looked to Brandt as well for an answer.
"It's a pretty generic term for any half-blood mercenary. Some are vampires, others werewolves, and some Veela as well. They aren't able to get many jobs dealing with people, so many work as mercenaries. These three in particular have particular sets of skills that make investigations particularly easy for them. I didn't have any plans to hire a team, but it works well to use them as a scare tactic."
"So you just used the reputation of the Black family to make them think you would send scary people into their country?" Harry asked.
Brandt, Tina, and Newt all chuckled, as he replied, "Yes, we are a very scary family. Some of the people that were here today might not have known much about the Blacks before the meeting, but you can be sure they did their research on all of us before we arrived. We tend to spread around enough false information so people aren't sure whether we are kind philanthropists building hospitals or kidnapping muggles to power dark rituals. People tend to believe the worst rumors before the better ones, even if the positive ones are easier to prove."
"So it's like Severus?" Lyra asked. "Lots of theatrics?"
"No, and no," told them with a very serious expression. "You need to understand that for some people, theatrics are a way to make them seem better than they actually are. For others, they are used in place of dangerous behavior or to preserve their status."
"So how much of the stories about the Black family are true?" Harry asked.
Brandt gave a glance towards Newt and Tina, then responded, "Enough to keep us honest."
That seemed to deaden the conversation, and after Lyra took down the silencing ward, the group made their way out of the room where they met Nestor, who had just finished a conversation with Cesario.
Nestor turned to face them, "I'm sorry that we made you wait at the beginning. Mr. Gutiérrez insisted on making you wait to throw you off guard. Though it was interesting watching his reaction to your reversal."
"Was he in charge of the meeting?" Newt asked.
"No, but he has a lot of pull in the Ministry. The Invisibility Task Force has been pretty much entirely a legacy job. Raphael's father held the Department Head role before him, whose father held it before him, and many cousins, siblings, and others in the family work there. With so many of them working for the ministry, they tend to hold a lot of power. They don't like it being taken away."
"So how did we take away his power?" Lyra asked.
"By sitting in his spot," Harry responded smugly.
"No, not that," Lyra responded. "How did we do it for him to even come to the meeting?"
"That is the question we need answering," Brandt said seriously. "I doubt you have an answer to it though, do you, Mr. Balindong?"
Nestor shook his head, "Total mystery. Let me escort you back home before I come back to the office."
He guided them to a small, private fireplace and put up privacy wards. Then, just as Nenita had done for them, he threw a large handful of powder into the fire and said, "Vila Balindong! Lihatlah masa sekarang!" Together as a large group, they entered the fire and were spat out in the courtyard of Nestor's vila.
Just like before, Tamara and the guards in white inspected the group and got the same strange result from the scanning of Harry and Lyra.
When they were done, one of the guards said to Nestor, "Your grandmother is waiting for you with guests in the garden. She instructed us to bring the others."
Everyone followed Nestor through the large house and out the back into a large garden. Flowers were blooming all over the expansive area, with a pond filled with colorful fish snaking through the area. Towards the center of the landscape, there was a small pagoda where they could see Aurora, Tamara, and two other people sitting. As they got closer, they recognized one of the guests as the man from the animal shop, Kadin, who Harry had killed the sigbin for. The other guest was a woman, between the ages of Tamara and Aurora.
The three women were having tea and talking animatedly in a language that was not English. Kadin on the other hand was sitting to the side, with no teacup, almost like he was a child on a time-out. The conversation stopped as the group approached them.
"Welcome back," Aurora greeted them. "Everything went well with your meeting," she said that as a statement rather than a question. Then, gesturing to their female guest, "I invited Mutya and her son Kadin, who you know, for tea. I believe that Kadin has something he would like to say to you, Mr. Potter."
The man stood up and walked over to them while keeping his eyes on his feet, "I would like to apologize," and he bowed deeply before Harry. "The service you performed for me was far greater than the paltry offering I gave you of the feathers of the sarimanok. I brought along the body of the sigbin, please select any parts of the creature you wish to take and they will be provided to you."
Harry was a bit in shock, and said, "Um, ok?"
He led Harry and the group back towards the house where a large crate was sitting towards the side of the house. As he took off the lid, the body of the sigbin lay inside. If Harry hadn't killed it himself, he would have thought it to still be alive as it was still the same pitch-black color and the eyes were still open and a wispy white, like a thestral.
"Is there any part you would like to take?" Kadin asked him.
"I have no idea what the parts are used for," Harry replied.
Kadin shrugged, "Neither do I, I was just trying to find a way to kill it to give it to someone who does."
Lyra was also staring at the body of the dark creature, and asked, "What parts did the potion master want?"
"I was told that the internal organs, eyes, tongue, and ears would be the most valuable."
Lyra looked to Harry, "Do you think any could be added to your staff, like the Lamassu?"
Harry pulled out his staff and held it with both hands close to the body. He channeled a bit of his magic through the staff to see if he felt any sort of attraction to the creature's magic, but instead, got an immediate reaction that felt like when he had first drunk the Pinocchio's Tincture.
He put his staff back in his pouch, and said, "No, it feels like this is the complete opposite to everything in my staff. What about yours?"
Lyra pulled hers out and held it close to the body of the shadow vampire. Harry could see on Lyra's face that she was having a completely different reaction than what he had experienced. She moved her staff up and down the body before looking back at Kadin.
"Could we have the fangs and the skin?" Lyra asked.
He looked a bit put out about giving up any part of the creature, but after looking back towards the pagoda where his mother and Aurora were still sitting, he gave a slight shiver and turned back.
"I can give you the fangs now," he said as he pulled out his wand and a small and very sharp-looking knife. "The skin, I would need to send you later after my client has taken aside the remaining parts of the creature."
"You have our contact information," Brandt told him. "Do you know any local tanners that could cure the skin into leather? Mr. Potter would pay for that service."
Kadin smiled a bit, "I've got a cousin that does."
"Seems like everyone has that cousin," Harry chuckled.
"Send Mr. Potter the bill through Gringotts, and it will be paid. Will the extraction of the teeth take long?"
"Just a few minutes, I want to make sure it is as clean as possible."
Kadin waved his wand and the sides of the crate fell to the sides giving him a larger area to work with. He put on a pair of white gloves with a shimmering pattern on the outside and took out a device that looked like a miniaturized marble column. After opening the creature's mouth, he inserted the column and tapped it with his wand. It extended little by little until the mouth was propped open wide.
Behind the two fangs were many smaller sharp teeth, arranged in two rows, top and bottom, though the tongue was particularly interesting. Towards the throat, it looked normal, and thick, like a human or a dog, but then it split into numerous tendrils as it got closer to the front of the mouth.
"Do you mind if I take pictures?" Newt had his camera in hand.
Kadin nodded, but said, "I would appreciate being credited if the photos ever make it to publication, same with the ones that were taken while you were in the shop."
"Of course," Newt replied.
With the mouth propped open, Kadin used his knife to cut into the flesh around the gums of the first fang. Once it was as clear as possible, he made a very slow, overhand scooping motion with his wand while incanting, "Densevello."
As he finished the motion, the tooth popped out of its place, the root perfectly clean. Kadin placed the black tooth, nearly four inches long, to the side and slowly repeated the process with the second one. Once he was done, he wrapped them both in a white handkerchief and passed them to Harry, who in turn, passed them to Lyra. She wrapped them tighter and deposited them into her pouch.
As they walked back to the pagoda, Kadin asked what they planned to do with the teeth and the skin, but they both didn't know, they just seemed like interesting things to experiment with. Though Lyra said she would add one to her staff if she could. When they rejoined the women having tea, Kadin's mother had him sit with her and poured him a cup. Aurora made no move to put out more cups for the rest of them, so Nestor took that as a sign for them to leave and head back to the island.