Disciple-AN: I apologize for the lack of updating with this story. It was unintentional. However we are back and at it again. Back in the swing of the wands and should be updating more.
SOTM- my fault with lack of updates. Going through some personal shit.
"Here's your ticket, Sir."
Harry took the little yellow stub from the man behind the gated counter, "Thanks, Ben. Give the wife my regards."
The older blonde-haired man named Ben nodded his head, "Will do, you keep catching them Dark Wizards for us, eh?"
"I'll certainly give it my best." Harry smiled and grabbed the box of evidence he was checking out. Turning to Hermione he said, "So… my place or yours?"
Without looking up from her little notepad, "Or Kingsley's place." He nearly dropped the box of crucial evidence. "That was a joke, Potter. Whichever you prefer, I just figured that Gin wouldn't appreciate us taking over your living room again."
He gripped the box tighter, keeping his head forward as they made their way over to the elevators, "Yeah about that…"
Hermione stepped in before him, giving him a questioning look. He slid the wrought iron doors shut and quickly hit the lever. Now that they were alone, he spoke, "I moved back into Grimmauld Place."
Her eyes widened, trying to find the words to say, "Wow. Uh, okay I guess you guys are taking things in stride and I guess our talk that night helped you." Hermione tucked her hair behind her ears and looked down at the passing glares of light shine through the doors as they rode up to the main lobby.
"I live alone." Harry stated plainly.
"Wot?" she did a double take.
He shrugged and shifted the weight of the box, "Your talk did help after all. We've been broken up since."
"That's great! I meant that our talking helped you." Her jaw dropped, realizing her mistake, "Oh no- not that you two split up. That's terrible. I didn't mean-"
Harry started laughing, "You should see your face."
She hit him on the arm, "Harry! Don't say things that aren't true. You made me feel terrible."
"I wasn't lying." He gave her a small smile and stepped out of the elevator.
Following him out the elevator, they crossed the perfect black marble floors to the apparition point. "Well, glad to hear that I helped you guys sort things out."
Waiting in line to apparate out of the Ministry, he leaned closer to her, "I wasn't lying about any of it. Side along if you don't believe me."
"Harry, wait!" He was next in line and she rushed forward and grabbed his arm as he spun them both to his home.
Hermione squinted her eyes as the sun blared down on them, she looked around to a very depressing looking garden. The shrubs had taken over and it looked like Devil's Snare was starting to make some headway near the small fountain of Cornish Pixie's having a water fight.
"Where are we?"
Harry handed her the box of evidence, "Like I said, Grimmauld Place. Hold this while I get the door, will you?"
"Is this the garden? I've never seen this before."
"Well, the front door is pretty much out of commission after… you know. I don't have the floo set up here yet. Not sure if I will at all, to be honest. I hate unexpected visitors. Ron found out the hard way to announce himself first." He said as he pulled his wand out of his sleeve and started adjusting the wards to accept her. "Congratulations, Mione. You're the only other person alive who is granted full access to the ever-desolate Estate of House Potter."
Hermione's mouth opened and closed a few times, trying to gather her thoughts before blurting out a series of questions that had no order. She had been working on not being typical Hermione since a coworker pointed it out to her. "Harry…"
Knowing his friend for years, he knew how to handle her ever inquisitive mind, "Well, Bill helped me set the wards and moving the apparition point from the front step to here in the garden. I'm not as young as I used to be, Mione. I nearly slipped on the ice this past February."
"February?! What happened? I wasn't gone that long, was I?"
He took the box from her and set it on one of the stone tables that was covered in algae and dirt. "He was over helping with chasing out some old boggarts when we found this on accident. Didn't know Grimmauld had a garden. Don't think Sirius knew about it either. The door was behind the bookshelf in the library of all places. Bill accidentally kicked open my quidditch gear and the bludger shot out and blew a hole right through."
When he heard her gasp, he quickly added, "The books are fine, Mione. I swear."
She clicked her tongue, "That's not what I was getting at, but glad to hear it all the same. I'm shocked to find out about this; months after the fact. Harry, you know you can come to me at any time for anything. What happened with Ginny? Are you alright?"
He shook his head solemnly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "I've learned two things in life. Don't speak ill of the dead and don't speak ill of ex-girlfriends."
"But- "
"Want to talk about you and Ron breaking up?"
"NO." she huffed. "Point made, Potter. I just wish you would have come to me if you needed a place to stay. I know you hate it here and I don't particularly like that you're here, let alone… well, alone."
"I know, and for that I'm sorry. Some things just need to be dealt with alone. Just do me a favor and not tell Ron."
"You mean to tell me, that your best friend doesn't know you broke up with his little sister?" she said with a quirked brow. "And moved out of your apartment? How?"
"Same way he doesn't know that you and Viktor had a fling last off season." Harry shot back.
"Lips are shut as tight as Gringotts" she made the hand motion of a lock and key by her mouth, "Post Golden Trio break in Gringotts. Naturally."
"Let's get in then, it'll be dark soon and we have nothing on this case yet."
Hermione was sitting at the desk in the corner while Harry was standing at the chalkboard nearby. The board itself was obviously stolen, or as Harry told it, borrowed from the Ministry. They put their logos on everything. All their case findings thus far were magically stuck to the board or written around it.
"I'm still not sure why I'm the one up here. My writing is horrid." He said as he wiped away a work for the 2nd time.
"My feet hurt." She mumbled through a full mouth. She had her quill in between her teeth as she tried to pin her hair up on top of her head. "I just spent a month trekking through half of Germany. Besides, from what I head you've been taking desk cases. Get that blood flowing, Potter."
"Yes, Ma'am." He snorted and stepped back from his work while dusting his hands off on his pants. "Alright… want to do the honors?"
Hermione got up and stood next to him. Holding her trusty notepad, her favorite quill he gifted her this past birthday, she took a deep breath before speaking, "We have a known follower of Voldemort, lead snatcher named Scabior."
Harry pointed to his mug shot, "Caught by the brightest witch of her age."
Smirking, but ignoring his comment, "On his persons we have the following evidence: Scabior's wand."
Harry moved over to the box of evidence, "Check." He placed it on the desk.
"Snape's wand."
"Check."
"Snape's Death Eater mask."
"Check."
"Weird letter."
"Cheee…. Hold on." He looked through the box but found nothing.
Hermione snickered, "I have it, Harry."
Letting his shoulders slump, he looked at her over the rim of his glasses. "Really? I thought I almost lost this case and my job."
She pursed her lips and tilted her head up, "Well you had me thinking that I ruined your relationship and got you kicked out of your flat."
"Technically speaking-" he stopped his sentence in his tracks when she shot him an angry look. "Moving on… What do we know about the letter?"
She stuck it to the middle of the board wandlessly, "Addressed to a 'Son of the Mourning' from a 'Legal Assassin.'"
Harry stood next to her with his arms crossed and shaking his head. "What a shame."
"What's that?"
"They have such cool names that I bet they picked out themselves." He nodded his head towards the letter. "I got stuck with the lame names. You know that people still call me 'The Boy Who Lived'? I'm a man now, can I get something cooler?"
Hermione quirked a brow, "Like what, The Man Who Hit Puberty? Seems rather long, doesn't it?"
Harry narrowed his eyes at her, "Har Har. Continue."
Biting her lip to keep her giggle contained, she turned the page in her notepad, "What do we know about the letter?"
Harry moved to the board, pointing to the checklist written under Scabior's smirking mug shot, "He survived the war. Not sure how yet. Don't really care either…"
"Harry."
"What? That's not our job. That case is assigned to Auror Knight." He put his hands up in defense, "Look, if it ties into the letter, we'll go down that road. Right now, we have to stay on track."
"Oh alright. Carry on then." She sighed and waved her hand.
"He claims to have gotten Snape's wand and mask from his grave, but we know that it's empty. Well, not empty, but you know these things weren't in there." He was about to continue until she made a noise in the back of her throat.
"Do we though?" she looked up at him. "I know it was empty, well… at least that's what the public knows. How do we know it wasn't tampered with after the fact?"
"Who would want to tamper with an empty grave? Who would want to put something in it, just to take it out?" he scratched his head and looked up at the board.
Hermione bit her lip and looked at her notes, turning the pages back and forth, "What if… what if it's not a grave?"
"You lost me."
"What if we see a grave but someone else sees a safe place to keep things? Who would look for anything in a grave?" she started.
"Uh… Voldemort." He gave her a look as if to say, 'Are you seriously forgetting about that?'
"He had a point, Harry. What do we know about the Death Eater masks? They turn to dust when their owner passes away. It was proven when – you know!" She explained.
They hated talking about the war. To others or each other. It was always the elephant in the room that neither of them liked to talk about. They dealt with it enough when the public and papers questioned them.
"I know where you're going with this and I don't like it. Let's move on." He turned back to the board. "Scabior claims that this Legal Assassin fellow is the one who told him to deliver the letter to the Son of the Morning."
Hermione waved her wand at the board, scribbling her thoughts as Harry followed along. She wrote 'Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody' below 'Legal Assassin' and the same for Son of the Morning. The letter was stuck in the middle of the board with lines connecting to it.
"Ready to go over the timeline?" She asked. Seeing him nod his head he pulled out his wand while she pulled out her quill.
As she spoke, he waved his wand at the board. "I really wish you would have reminded me that I'm a wizard and can do that too. Instead, you let me look like a prat and write it out long hand."
A long line formed at the top of the board, going across it horizontally.
"I like making you put in the work, Potter." She winked at him, making him blush and cough awkwardly. "Alright, Mad Eye died the night of July 27th, 1997. Then the war ended 2nd of May 1998."
"Same night Snape died." Harry added verbally and to the board.
"And Scabior." She murmured. "Then we have the letter dating 22nd of December 1998. Well after both men are deceased. Yesterday we pull the letter off Scabior who claims that Mad Eye sent him to deliver the message to Snape… and that's about where we lose it all."
Harry crossed his arms, twirling his wand between two fingers as he looked at the board. "Well one thing is for sure. We can cross Mad Eye sending that letter off the list. He's confirmed dead."
Hermione made that noise in the back of her throat again, making Harry look down at her, "Come on, Mione. You aren't going to say we need to go to his grave, too are you?"
"It's plausible. We thought Scabior was dead this whole time and he's lost his mind. You really think it's out of the realm of possibility that two highly trained and powerful wizards wouldn't know how to cheat death?" she turned to face him head on with her hands on her hips. "Mad Eye had an empty grave as well. Just as the public was informed."
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, "Please tell me this isn't leading towards Zombies."
"What? Who do you think I am, Ronald?" she said defensively.
Harry put his hands together and bowed his head, "You're right, I'm sorry."
"Just open the letter, Potter."
Harry walked up and pulled the letter off the board. Flipping it over in his hands while walking back to the desk. Grabbing the letter opener, he tried to wedge it under the flap. Grunting in frustration, he tried to use his fingernail to peel it back. Nothing changed, it was like scratching at a smooth surface.
"Any time, Harry." Hermione.
"I'm bloody trying!" he said as he tried the ripping method near a corner.
She huffed impatiently before snatching it out of his hands, "They said there were no curses or spells. We had to use another object to read it, Bill didn't say anything about not being able to open it.'
She placed the letter on the center of the desk and waved her wand over. The letter fluttered but did not open. She tried several more spells that she had in her arsenal and nothing happened. Harry stood on the other side of the desk with his arms crossed.
"You think it's the same kind of magic that Dumbledore used with that Snitch? Remember?" he suggested.
Biting her lip, she grabbed Snape's wand and waved it at the letter. Again, nothing happened. "I don't think so. It would have reacted to the magic of his wand, regardless of the holder."
Harry looked over her shoulder back at the board, "Wait a sec… what if…. What if it wasn't Mad Eye that gave Scabior the letter?"
Looking over her shoulder, Hermione tried to see what he was looking at, "Meaning….?"
He rounded the desk and crossed the room, "Remember Barty Crouch Jr.? What if it's another impersonator?"
She tilted her head, looking off in the distance for a moment before catching what he was saying, "You think someone is trying that again? Why?"
"Think about it, Hermione. Scabior was afraid of Legal Assassin. Even Kings said that he was feared by everyone. This person would have to have known that and used it to his advantage."
"What would they gain?"
"Flushing out deserters, Death Eater enthusiasts, trying to bring Voldemort back." He said seriously as he gripped his wand with white knuckles.
She crossed the room, reaching out to put a hand on the center of his back. When she felt him tense, she wrapped her arms around his middle from behind, "I'm here, Harry."
Taking a few deep breaths, he put his hands over hers, "I know."
She pulled away, much to his disappointment, "We can't read the letter, we have no further leads. You know what we have to do don't you?"
Harry turned to see the hesitant look on her face, "Don't say it."
"So… I think it would be better from you actually." She winced as she spoke, scrunching her nose.
"I hate it when you do that. " He lied. He loved it.
"It's just that your history with him… and you know… your mom-"
"Fine. You're writing the damn report though."
Harry knocked on the door to Kingsley's office. He waited for the door to open before he entered. Once inside the office, Harry sat down in front of Kingsley's desk. Kingsley finished writing on the piece of parchment in front of him before he looked up at Harry. Harry nodded in greeting. His boss leaned forward with his hands together.
"Potter. How is the investigation going?" he asked.
"That's what I'm here to discuss actually. There's been a development, but it requires approval for something I normally would never ask for," Harry answered, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair nervously.
Kingsley cocked his head. "Approval to do what exactly?"
Harry sighed. "We discovered there is more evidence that will tell us more about the Son of The Morning. Only problem is," he began but was cut off.
"Is the location?" Kingsley asked. "You need the approval to access it?"
Harry grimaced, "Kind of. We need the approval to... exhume a grave."
Kingsley leaned back in his chair pinching the bridge of his nose. "Merlin's beard! There better be good cause. That's a lot of authorization to have to get."
"According to the research done and clues in the letter," He paused and added under his breath, "or lack thereof…" he picked back up, "The Son of The Morning might be alive as well as the Legal Assassin. The clue to their living status should be... buried with... the... Son of The Morning," Harry answered hesitantly.
"You have got to be kidding me! You not only the approval to exhume a grave but to exhume one buried on Hogwarts grounds?" Kingsley nearly shouted and Harry slowly nodded his head. "What do you mean "lack thereof" you either have the them or you don't!"
"We tried looking through the evidence and exhausted every bloody option to find another way to secure the truth. There aren't any. We can't open the letter!" Harry put his hands up. "Scabior said he got the wand and the mask from Snape's grave. You and I both know what was buried there and neither of those items were included. It was a private service that was limited to only members of the Order."
Kingsley looked down at his lap. "It's not the Ministry you have to be worried about, Potter. It's the Headmistress."
Harry's green eyes widened, his brows disappearing into his hair line, stammering he replied, "The- the… you mean- McGonagall?" He'd completely forgotten that he had to deal with his Transfiguration Professor and Head of House.
Kingsley curled a lip at Harry angrily, seeing that he forgot that Hogwarts was no longer and will ever be governed by the Ministry again, "I will put in the request for authorization. You will receive an owl with the answer. Now get out!"
