Chapter Fifty
...
Draco ran out from his report to Pansy in time to see Dennis Disapparating. He had no doubt that Dennis had followed Susan's sudden disappearance, and that probably meant bypassing International Apparating laws. After working on St. Anne's for the last month, Draco was more annoyed by the latter than he'd expected to be. A month and two days ago, he would've done the same without a second thought. Now, however, he knew how much bloody parchment work was involved for something like that. He didn't envy Pansy the job ahead, that's for sure.
"Where'd she go?" Blaise asked, trying to calm the children at the same time.
"No idea. Shit, Pansy," Draco cursed, turning to hurry into the small building again, only to see Susan stepping out of the fireplace, pale and trembling. "What happened?"
"Dennis sent me back. It was an unpleasant trip," Susan admitted, sinking down onto a chair unsteadily. "I don't know what happened. We were talking and then I was back at the school."
Draco frowned - outside, he heard Blaise convincing the children to play a game of lying wands (Muggles called it sleeping logs, and it always amused him to think how both wizards and Muggles were desperate to keep children quiet and still); whether to calm them or to keep them quiet, he didn't know - and tried to think of a reason it could have happened. "Do you have a Portkey on you?"
Susan shook her head. "I don't own any. I only have the clothes I'm wearing. Oh, and the cauldron with my memories."
"The kids are settled - oh, good, you're back! What happened? Where's Dennis?" Blaise asked, looking between them in concern.
"Don't know. The 85 cauldron might be a Portkey," Draco replied.
"Time-based or location or both?"
"Don't know. Can we see it?" Draco asked Susan.
"Of course, it's right here," Susan said, pulling the shrunken cauldron out of her pocket.
Right as she disappeared again.
There was a firecall and Draco answered Pansy's call quickly. She didn't look pleased. "What's going on over there? Why was I kicked off the firecall?"
"Dennis sent Susan back via Floo; she went back to the school by what looks like a Portkey, and she just disappeared again. Dennis took off after her, but he hasn't come through yet. We can go get her and deal with the Portkey before we come back."
"Hold on, I'm getting another firecall - " Pansy said, her face freezing in the flames as she put them on hold to answer.
"What's more important than this?" Draco asked incredulously.
"No idea."
...
Morrigan was nervous but determined not to show it. She doubted Claudia had ever been nervous in her life; she probably came out of the womb with confidence oozing from every pore. Heading to the meeting place that Cloffice had replaced in the Daily Prophet, she headed into the building without waiting or looking around. She was confident, and she could meet with a renowned paranoid Death Eater and come out the other side alive and with the Time Turners in her possession. She hoped.
"Claudia, you're late, as usual."
Morrigan frowned at the raspy male voice behind her, and spun on her heel. "I'm not late. You were probably here early with the Time Turner," she said, hoping her voice sounded similar enough to Claudia's high tittering voice to be believable.
Avery's eyes narrowed, then he looked at one of four watches on his wrist. He had another two pocket watches hooked to his waistcoat, and a bulge in his pocket that probably indicated another watch.
Morrigan swallowed hard at the realisation that Avery had seven duplicates. She had no idea how he was even sane at the moment. How had he managed to miss the six other versions of himself? Was it even possible with that many? How had he seen his doppelganger and not gone insane like hundreds of other witches and wizards before him?
"You're right. Then, you are on time, for once." Avery glanced around the decrepit building they were meeting in, then looked back at her curiously. "From everything you've told me about La Révolution, I'm surprised you're willing to meet in a place like this. I thought your headquarters were extravagant enough to make rich people jealous?" he sneered, clearly quoting something she'd said.
Morrigan glared, hoping she looked haughty. "It is, but the likes of you aren't welcome on our headquarters' doorstep, let alone inside."
Avery glared and certainly not in a haughty manner. "Fuck you, too. You'd better have all of my money this time."
"You'll get paid when I get my Time Turners," Morrigan said.
Avery went to pull something out of his pocket - the one with the bulge, so maybe not another watch, but the Time Turners shrunk down? - then his eyes narrowed, like a thought had hit him out of the blue. His hand dropped to his side, his other armed with his wand, and he pointed it directly at her. "Why are you speaking English?"
Morrigan had no idea how to respond to that. She had no lie planned, but she could do wandless magic, and Avery collapsed to the floor before he could say another word. Breathing a soft sigh of relief when he started snoring loudly, Morrigan stepped forward to get the package of Time Turners from his pocket.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside, complete with the sound of spells and hexes being shouted, and someone groaning in pain as a result. Morrigan really, really hoped it was Avery's duplicates and not whoever had come as her backup. The door burst open and Morrigan quickly redirected her wandless hex before it hit George and the unknown witch and wizard that accompanied him.
"Are you all right?" Morrigan asked, seeing the blooming bruise on George's face.
"Fine. You? What happened to Avery?"
"I knocked him out. He's got the Time Turners in his pocket. I think," she added, hurrying over to check his pocket.
Setting the small cube on the ground, she let George step forward to unshrink the package, her eyes widening at the large pallet of Time Turners that appeared.
"Each one of Avery's duplicates has one of these pallets. That's potentially five pallets of Time Turners," George said, shrinking the package back down.
"Five? He's wearing six watches, though. There's another Avery out there," Morrigan said.
George swore a small torrent of curse words, then stopped abruptly when a sound drew his attention over Avery's snoring, Alexandre's heavy breathing, and Louisa's audible gulps of fear. Pointing his wand at the ceiling, George thought of a spell, barriers slamming into place around the building. It would stop anyone getting in, but also stop them from getting out, magically or otherwise.
"He's still here. He's got a Time Turner, but he won't be able to make more duplicates without going insane. Be careful, he'll be desperate," George said, reaching down to destroy the Time Turner around the snoring Avery's neck.
"I know the feeling," Louisa muttered, not entirely pleased about being locked in a warehouse with a paranoid and desperate Death Eater.
George crushed the Time Turner, jumping back as a hex landed far too closely for his body for his liking. Avery's duplicates were getting into position, and they were sitting ducks standing still like this.
Looks like you're the target this time, Georgie boy. Whatcha gonna do? Fred asked curiously.
"Hide for as long as possible," George said, looking to the other three to ensure they'd heard and understood.
Morrigan, Louisa, and Alexandre nodded, each splitting up and moving away from Avery's snoring body. George set a shield over the Death Eater's body to make sure his copies couldn't do anything reckless, then stepped back to get as far away from Avery's body as possible. Another hex flew out, then another and another, all of them far too close to his body, but they were definitely away from the other three.
Fred was right about him being the target, George realised. Either Avery recognised him or he thought he was in charge of the other three. Well, apart from Morrigan, it was kind of true. He ducked behind one of the Time Turner pallets, and the hexes stopped almost immediately, just as he'd expected. Avery wouldn't do anything to risk the Time Turners, especially now that his original's was broken. Something niggled at George's mind and he took a moment to focus on the thought.
Avery wasn't snoring anymore.
Turning to where he'd Shielded Avery, George wasn't entirely surprised to see that the man had disappeared. No, not disappeared, but faded from time.
The Avery copies hadn't disappeared after he destroyed the Time Turner, either. If they were copies based on that Time Turner, then they should have disappeared since they couldn't be sent back in time anymore. That meant that the Avery that had been snoring on the floor just a moment wasn't the original Avery. He needed to find the right Avery with the original Time Turner and destroy it to get rid of all of the copies.
That meant he needed a plan to draw Avery out, which was easier said than done with the limitations in and around the warehouse. Not to mention, Pansy would probably like the rest of the Time Turners intact and not destroyed in an unnecessary wand duel. He looked at his pocket watch; they'd been in here for nearly fifteen minutes and Avery had arrived before Morrigan. They still had forty-five minutes before Avery's copies disappeared, and they might not survive that long with the original Avery and Time Turner still somewhere in the warehouse.
I'll do you one better, Georgie boy: we get our revenge on the copies instead of sitting here with our thumbs up our arses. Killing a copy isn't the same as killing the real one and y'know Pans won't mind even if we did kill the original "by accident".
George swallowed hard at Fred's suggestion. He didn't like killing people - even duplicates of Death Eaters - in cold blood.
Who said it's cold, Georgie boy? This is the wizard that killed me, remember that? Your blood should be fucking boiling, Fred snapped.
A hex flew past, distracting him from his thoughts, but it went in the other direction to where Morrigan had headed. He didn't have time to be arguing with himself; he needed to keep the others safe.
Patting down his robes to try to find something of use, George's fingers brushed against a small rectangular packet: his Exploding Snap cards. They were useful to keep him occupied when he was alone or waiting on someone, or just wanted to make Solitaire more exciting. Not only that, they also had another purpose all together: when combined with a Fire-Making Charm or a common fireplace, the cards would set off explosions loud enough for even George to hear. Every individual card contained an underlying charm that was designed to explode when snapped with a partner card, of course, but those charms were also susceptible to excessive heat, making each card its own mini incendiary device.
That would definitely draw Avery out.
George took the Exploding Snap cards out of his pocket and carefully slid it a few metres away - still close enough to draw Avery's attention by making him think the Time Turners would be in danger, but far enough that neither he nor the Time Turners would actually be casualties - before sending an Incendio charm at the unassuming pack of cards. They lit up in flames, a brilliant blue colour burning through the layer of packaging in an instant before starting on the cards themselves. Every single card started to explode as the heat tore at the paper and just as he'd suspected, several of Avery's duplicates stepped out from their hiding positions to see what had created the noise and whether the Time Turners were unharmed.
Behind the cover of the cards' exploding, George sent hexes at the three Avery duplicates that appeared, binding each one to the closest stair railing, piece of furniture, or pillar. Another hex, more precise and specific this time, was sent at each version to destroy the Time Turner around the wizard's neck. All three stayed stuck in their positions, but cursed black and blue - his parents were married when he was born, thank you very much - so that meant they were copies rather than the original.
Another three Avery duplicates were somewhere in the warehouse and one of them had to be the original. He couldn't risk his sanity by making more duplicates within a confined space like this, especially with the barrier George had erected.
Spying the edge of a robe peeking out from behind a pillar on the second storey, George sent a Reducto hex at the pillar on the first floor instead. It shrunk the whole pillar, surprising the Avery duplicate hiding behind it, and the wizard was soon bound and his Time Turner destroyed. The duplicates stayed where they were, so he wasn't the original either, damn it.
Two more left: one duplicate and one original.
George tried to creep around the pallet of Time Turners to see the other side of the warehouse, but a barrage of hexes came from everywhere at once, and he ducked back to protect himself again.
Hexes started to fly in the air from the direction that Morrigan had gone. He didn't know if she could see Avery or was trying to lure him out as well, but either way, it worked. Another version of Avery fell to the ground, the Time Turner around his neck shattering as he fell flat on the concrete.
One down, but was there still one left? Had Morrigan knocked out the original Avery or the duplicate?
"I surrender!"
George hadn't expected that. He also didn't trust Avery as far as he could throw him, so he stayed hidden where he was. "Come out with your wand in the air."
"All right, I'm coming out! Don't hex me!" Avery called, stepping out from behind the pillar with his hands over his head, his wand in plain sight.
George was concerned about how easily Avery had given himself up, especially considering his paranoia, and continued to stay behind the pallet. Morrigan, Alexandre, and Louisa didn't have his same concerns and came out with their wands drawn.
Avery's hands dropped to the Time Turner around his neck, turning it and ducking low as hexes were sent his way. Abruptly, far too abruptly for George's liking, the hexes stopped. He kept his head low as he looked out to where Morrigan had gone. She had her hands raised as Avery had just a moment ago, and one of Avery's duplicates was standing at her back, his wand digging into her back. He had no doubt that the other two were suffering a similar fate.
George slipped back to the pallet's protection and contemplated his options. He couldn't run, he couldn't fight three of Avery's duplicates at once - at least, not well, and not without harming the others' lives - and since he couldn't Apparate out of the warehouse, it only left him with one option: knock out the original Avery.
He couldn't do it alone, though.
Digging the tip of his wand into the protective packaging around the pallet, George ripped a tear into it just big enough for his hand, and reached in. Pulling out a Time Turner, he didn't think or hesitate, turning the hourglass once. He held his breath as he went back in time, the hour flying by in a bright flash of hex and charm lights.
He was too late to stop the duplicates, but he could stop the original Avery. It should cause enough of a distraction for the other three to either disarm the duplicates or get away. He heard Morrigan and Avery's voices discussing the shipment of Time Turners.
Slowly, carefully, he made his way up the stairs to the original Avery's hiding spot. It provided an excellent vantage point over the warehouse itself, excepting the stairs. Certain that he would see anyone approaching the stairs, Avery was confident and that led to mistakes. George was behind Avery in a moment, silent in his footsteps, and Avery was too busy concentrating on the scene below to notice his presence.
You could kill him right now. No one would know it was you.
George swallowed hard at Fred's thought. I would know. Pansy would figure it out.
You're probably right; Pansy is smarter than you, after all, Fred mused. Well, you know best, Georgie boy; do what you want, just like you always do.
Ignoring the poor attempt at a guilt trip - their mother did far better and they both knew it - George sent a hex at Avery. Ever since the Final Battle and Fred's death, George had fantasised about facing Avery: what he'd say, what he'd do, and a Petrificus Totalus hadn't exactly been the main feature in those fantasies. However, George hadn't anticipated Avery's advantage with three hostages. The Full Body Bind knocked him out, ensured Avery couldn't use the Time Turner, and his duplicates would disappear, saving Morrigan, Alexandre, and Louisa.
Digging into Avery's pocket to grab the shrunken pallet of Time Turners, George let gravity do the rest of the work. There was a scream of surprise from the warehouse floor below as Avery's frozen body dropped forward off the platform and Avery's duplicate disappeared in the same instant.
"What the fuck?"
George couldn't stop his laugh at Morrigan's exclamation even if he wanted to. With his own possible future slipping away, George faded back to the future, an hour ahead in time and his laughter following him.
Morrigan walked over to him as George blinked and tried to adjust to the sudden change in view. Avery was still hexed with the Petrificus Totalus he'd sent, and then bound with rope for good measure, and the Time Turner around his neck was in pieces beside him.
"Ah, good, you're all right. Alexandre and Louisa?"
"They left soon after arriving to find Avery hexed and down for the count. You stayed to send yourself back an hour ago to make sure nothing messed with the timeline, or something to that effect. Thank you, by the way. Also, you scared the hell out of me," Morrigan said, glaring at him half-heartedly.
"I didn't mean to, but a small scare was better than the alternative," George admitted, standing slowly, his hand still clutched around the shrunken pallet of Time Turners. "How many pallets did we get?"
"Just the one I grabbed off Avery's duplicate. The other duplicates faded before we could do anything."
"All right. Let's shrink it back down and go report to Pansy. Would you mind Side-Apparating me and Avery? I don't think I should be Apparating myself anywhere right now," George admitted, feeling queasy now that he was upright.
"Of course. I have a potion in my bag to help with nausea, if you're still feeling it when we get back," Morrigan offered with a smile.
George just nodded his thanks in return and closed his eyes to stop the room from spinning. Merlin's balls, he hated time travel.
...
"Pansy, thank fuck. Jacques is going to the school! What happened there? Did they get out? Is everyone okay? Is Susan safe? Also, Jacques is looking for me; Ginny me, not Amelie. He thinks I've got some part of Voldemort's soul in me still, and Claudia gave him my hair. He wants me to do a location spell to find me and he'll probably kill me to get whatever he thinks I've got. Also, did you know Claudia is part of Avenir?" Ginny asked, trying to relay as much information as possible in the shortest amount of time possible, even though it felt like her heart was trying to climb out of her throat.
Pansy held up a hand to stop her tirade. "Stop and breathe, Ginevra."
Realising that she probably hadn't actually breathed properly in the last few minutes, Ginny inhaled and exhaled, then did it again slower. "Okay. I'm calm now. Sort of. A lot's happened."
"So I heard. I know about Claudia; Lin's dealing with her right now, in fact. I am sorry that I didn't realise about her betrayal sooner. Are you able to get yourself and Marcel to the rendezvous point safely before Jacques returns?"
"Yes, but what about all of this? Jacques recreated everything from Etienne's private Pensieve, even the one about Voldemort's soul," Ginny said, wincing.
"We have Etienne's home on file. We can retrieve and destroy the Pensieve," Pansy said.
Something niggled at Ginny's mind and she stopped abruptly as it came to the forefront. "Jacques said he can't fire her."
"Pardon?"
"Claudia turned up here in lingerie, I knocked her through the office, and Jacques said he can't fire her. That means he's not her boss. Or she doesn't work for Avenir... She works for La Révolution."
"I thought Project Serpent was La Révolution?"
"It can't be. It doesn't make sense; Jacques was pissed, and he would have fired Claudia in an instant if he could have. They must be separate: La Révolution is the company and Project Serpent is one of its fronts. Pansy, you know what this means?"
"They have other projects out there," Pansy said, a feeling like ice running through her veins at the thought; if bringing Voldemort back to life was one of La Révolution's projects, then what else were they doing?!
"That means I have to stay here, doesn't it? I have to find out who his boss is, or who other people are within La Révolution," Ginny said, the words tasting like ash in her mouth.
Pansy shook her head. "No, actually, it doesn't. Thanks to Morrigan's efforts with the Veritaserum potion, we now have a higher strength dose, and no one will have built up a tolerance to it. In fact, if Dennis captures Jacques successfully, both Jacques and Claudia can be our live test subjects," she said with a smile that was anything but pleasant.
Ginny was very glad that she was on Pansy's side. "So, I can destroy everything here?"
"Go right ahead."
"Ah, Amélie, je veux te parler du gâteau de Jacques pendant qu'il n'est pas là... " Marcel called out, opening the door. (Ah, Amelie, I want to talk to you about Jacques' cake while he is not here...) His eyes widened and he stepped inside, almost slamming the door behind him when he saw Ginny standing in Jacques' workspace, and worse, using his fireplace for a firecall. "Que se passe-t-il? Pourquoi parlez-vous au réalisateur Parkinson sur la cheminée de Jacques? Savez-vous ce qu'il fera quand il verra le journal?!" (What is going on? Why are you talking to Director Parkinson on Jacques' fireplace? Do you know what he will do when he sees the log?!)
"I'm going to destroy everything again and he won't see a damn thing. We need to get to the rendezvous point."
"Tu dois d'abord tuer Jacques," Marcel snapped. (You need to kill Jacques first.)
Ginny blinked. She knew that Marcel didn't like Jacques, but she didn't think he'd agree to killing the man in cold blood. "Why?"
"Parce qu'il sait qui vous êtes. Cette sorcière blonde vous a reconnu. Il va vous tuer, si vous ne le tuez pas d'abord." (Because he knows who you are. That blonde witch recognised you. He's going to kill you, if you don't kill him first.)
Amelie fell away from Ginny with a reluctant sigh; her cover was blown, after all. Damn it.
"Ginevra: destroy everything and get out of there. I don't want Jacques to get his hands on you, understood? He will be dealt with by Snare; trust in him and me," Pansy said firmly, her face flickering as the extended firecall started to end.
"Yes, I understand. I do trust both of you," Ginny added.
"Good; in fact, Snare, Storm, and Snow will soon be dealing with Jacques at the school, so trust that they will be able to capture Jacques. He is no longer your concern. The Herbologist will meet both of you at the rendezvous point."
"Thank you, Pansy."
Pansy nodded and the blue flames disappeared. Ginny straightened, then looked at Marcel. A sudden fear that he might end up like Odette latched onto her mind and she tried not to think about it. "I'm going to cause an earthquake, like I did last time. Stay close and don't go anywhere, all right?"
"Oui," Marcel replied.
He'd seen what one power-fuelled blowout from Ginny could do to an office, and didn't want to risk his life by being elsewhere in the building. Taking a seat on the lounge, Marcel spied the paper bag of pastries that Jacques had bought before the blowout. Grabbing the bag, Marcel decided that they shouldn't go to waste, and started to eat one of the pastries.
Across from him, Ginny stood in the middle of the office, her body practically glowing with the amount of magic she was using to make the ground shake and tremble beneath the building. Ginny's fear of others ending up like Odette gave her pause, though. After a few initial shakes of the building, she flicked her wand at the sprinkler system overhead. Alarms sounded and water immediately started spraying through the various rooms and offices in the building. A few people screamed in surprise at the unexpected noise and water, and then there were what sounded like hundreds of Apparation sounds in response.
Now that everyone was safe, Ginny continued to bring down Avenir. Again.
...
"I just spoke with Ginevra. She's fine and bringing Avery down again. Go to the school, save Skeleton, and make sure Snare's all right. Neville will kill me if he dies. Capture Jacques alive, understood?"
"Understood," Draco replied.
Beside him, Blaise headed out to gently put the children to sleep while they were still playing their game of lying wands. Draco threw Floo powder into the flames the moment the firecall ended, opened the grate to the Avenir school, and stepped through the flames, trusting that Blaise would be mere seconds behind him.
As he stepped into the school's lounge room - or what remained of it, he thought, taking in the destruction and former wooden furniture turned into toothpicks at a glance - Draco realised that Dennis was pinned behind an old armchair and being absolutely battered by hexes that Jacques was sending at him. Not to mention, Jacques had Susan by the throat with his other hand, and she was turning a colour that he doubted people were meant to be.
Draco's arrival was a surprise and one he used to his advantage, sending a Body Bind Curse directly at Jacques before he could turn his wand on him. The silent Petrificus Totalus hit Jacques square on, and he froze up immediately, his fingers loosening on both Susan's neck and his wand as he scrambled to make it stop. Not bothering to watch as the man froze over entirely, Draco headed over to check that Dennis was all right.
"I'm fine, check Susan," Dennis said, brushing off the damage done to his clothes and limbs by Jacques' continuous attacks.
"I can see through your arm, you dolt. At least let me heal that before I check on Susan, would you?"
"No offence, Snow, but I'd prefer to wait for Storm to arrive. We both know he's better at healing charms than you are," Dennis said, grinning.
"He's right, love. Check on Susan and see if you can break the Portkey charm on the 85 cauldron, yeah? Bill owes us a favour if you can't undo it yourself," Blaise added behind him, arriving thirty seconds late to deal with Jacques but just on time to hear Draco utterly insulted by a friend.
Draco glared. "Fine, whatever. See if I heal you next time I go anywhere alone, Snare."
Dennis snorted. "You have to go somewhere alone for that to happen, Snow."
Draco flipped him the wand and then headed over to Susan, who was starting to return to a natural human colour once more. Bruising was already forming around her neck, and Draco was gentle as he healed her. She didn't protest or even move, simply continued to take in deep breaths like she was grateful for the ability to breathe.
"Thank you. Draco, wasn't it?" Susan asked, looking at him.
He nodded. "Yes, that's right. Do you mind if I look at the cauldron? It seems to be a Portkey, as well as a Pensieve."
She licked her lips, looking between him and Jacques. "Removing the Portkey spell won't remove my memories, will it? Knowing Jacques, he'd do something like that if he could."
"I don't believe it will do that, since they're two very different spells. I'll work carefully and make sure to stop if anything's wrong. I promise I won't destroy your memories, Susan."
She still didn't look entirely pleased, but took the shrunken 85 cauldron from her pocket and set it on the ground, unshrinking it once more. Behind him, Draco heard Blaise and Dennis binding Jacques with several charms and a rope for good measure, discussing taking the French man straight through to Pansy. He briefly wondered if Ginny would be disappointed at not seeing the end of Jacques for herself, then figured he and Blaise could tell her with their own Pensieve.
If she returned to them this time, some awful and cruel part of his mind uttered.
He ignored it and turned his attention to the cauldron. Now that he was considering Susan's words, Draco was worried that Jacques would have done something to both the Portkey and Pensieve after all. Bill could break a curse like nobody's business, but he did so with little finesse and lots of explosions where he could (Fred and George certainly weren't the first of the Weasley siblings to create explosions in the Burrow, according to Ginevra), which meant if he got his hands on this cauldron, it was likely it would be a mess of metal and memories by the end of the day. No, he couldn't and refused to let that happen. Not only did Susan deserve better, but Ginny would be upset at the loss of her friend's memories, too.
"I've got an idea. Will you come with me to the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, Susan? You'll be safe while we're there; no one ever visits."
She frowned. "Then why do we have to go there?"
"Well, besides containing an unhealthy amount of rubber ducks, there's also a very gifted wizard when it comes to Portkeys: Arthur Weasley. He owes me a favour, even though he doesn't know it yet. We can take the cauldron to him and I'm sure he'll be able to separate the spells, in case you're right and Jacques did manage to combine them in some way."
Susan frowned. "But if it's still a Portkey, won't it just bring us right back here?" she asked, looking down at the large cauldron, still full of frozen wisps of her memories.
"Ah, I forgot about that part. All right, I'll bring him here. Let's just wait until Blaise gets back? I don't want to leave you on your own in case someone comes looking for Jacques."
"I'm back now, Draco. Where are you going?"
"Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. Arthur Weasley can separate the spells better than Bill could; remember what happened to that tomb we found in Argentina?"
Blaise winced. "Right, then. Be quick and I'll think of a way to explain it to Pansy so she doesn't kill us for bringing a civilian into this."
Draco grinned, even as he headed over to the fireplace. "It's all right, Blaise. If Pansy gets one more Weasley employed at Cloffice, she gets a free sweater at Christmas."
Blaise was in love with an idiot and sometimes he truly didn't know why.
...
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Claudia asked Lin, frowning at their surroundings.
They'd gone deeper into the Cloffice building than she even knew existed, and while some part of Claudia was excited to have new information to share with her real employers, there was another part of her that was terrified. She hadn't heard a single sound since Lin had brought her down here, and Claudia had secretly tried to Apparate five times but she couldn't get out. She didn't think she'd get far if she tried to run, either.
"Pansy wants to thank you for your contribution and resolution of the Troll Rights Movement in Liechtenstein. You're the first witch to achieve success with this, and it is an excellent political movement that will be important for Cloffice in the future," Lin said. "Of course, due to the nature of Cloffice, we can't celebrate something as big as this out in the open."
Claudia still wasn't entirely appeased, but she did like the idea of being celebrated. It might get her closer to Director Parkinson and if she could get the frigid witch to take her to her office, Claudia would have direct access to everything she'd ever laid her eyes on.
"I guess that makes sense," Claudia said. "Will Director Parkinson be here soon?"
Lin stopped, smiled, and knocked on a door. "She's right in here."
Claudia swallowed down her fear - she swore Director Parkinson could scent it like a Crup - and smiled as she stepped up to the door. It opened to reveal two people, hands reaching out to grab her and pull her into the room before she could struggle.
"Thank you, Lin," Shadow said.
"Tell Pansy we'll have her answers soon," Whisper added.
"I think Pansy will want to oversee this one personally, but I'll let her know. Good luck."
Claudia's scream cut off as the door closed.
...
End of the fiftieth chapter.
Thanks for reading; I hope you liked it! Only one left!