Chapter 11

Possibility

Two weeks had passed since Harry Potter's disappearance. The children had now returned to their homes from Hogwarts. Society was still raging, but there was little Amelia could do about that.

And the things she had learned in the interim were horrifying.

Potter's assertion that the Dursleys were abusive guardians was drastically understated. They were now in lockup in an undisclosed location, and Albus was totally unaware of that fact. The muggle authorities had taken custody of Potter's cousin, piece of work though he was, so that was not her problem.

On top of that, she had carefully questioned Susan upon her return home, and found that the girl couldn't talk about any of it. Most folk never considered House Elves, though, and one of her elves was easily able to break the geas. Susan broke down in tears of relief, which made Amelia even angrier at Dumbledore than she already was.

And what Susan told her stoked her anger even further.

Every point in Potter's letter was now validated, for one. All of those fantastic-sounding incidents had really occurred, though Susan had less detail on them than Potter did for obvious reasons. And none of them should ever have happened in a school.

Susan also validated that Weasley and Granger were likely plants. She had truly wanted to meet Harry Potter, and the only reason she had never gotten to know him was because those two had kept everyone away. They did it behind his back, and in such a way that people probably thought that he was an arrogant shit of the highest order.

Then there were her stories of Severus Snape and his treatment of her. The man was extremely abusive, and was clearly aware of the geas she had on her if his treatment of her was any indication. He was going to find out very soon that one did not abuse a member of her family without consequence.

She was going to pump that bastard full of Veritaserum, yank every scrap of information possible from his head, and then dump him into the deepest, darkest pit she could find.

And Albus Dumbledore would be next.

Dumbledore was at an ICW meeting for the next week, which gave her a nice window of opportunity. She would arrest him as soon as he returned. He owed them answers, and she intended to get them. And she would probably have a deep, dark pit for him as well.

She needed to question Weasley and Granger, but that could wait until tomorrow or the next day.

Apart from the Potter issue, Black had finally had his trial and was declared innocent, which surprised their entire society. The Ministry was on the hook for a massive payout there. He was Heir to an Ancient family, and had been imprisoned without cause for more than a decade. That was going to hurt, not that she cared.

That he turned up at the trial in Dumbledore's company was another important fact. Potter was right again. Dumbledore clearly knew he was innocent, and how to contact him. He should have arranged a trial, but chose not to.

Amelia had a sinking suspicion that it was all connected to Potter. A free Black meant a Potter that was not under Dumbledore's control. With Potter supposedly dead, however, Albus no longer cared.

The whole situation was a scandal of immense magnitude. She was going to have to figure out how to limit the fallout and prevent people like Lucius Malfoy from taking advantage. The last thing they needed was Death Eaters with more power.

But she would have to deal with it later; her secretary had just stuck her head into her office.

"Ma'am?" she called. "Bill Weasley is here to see you. He says it's important."

While another meeting was inconvenient, it wasn't a showstopper. And in this case, it was probably useful anyway. He could help arrange for an interview with his youngest brother, and possibly authorize the use of Veritaserum if that was necessary, though she would have to be careful. The Weasleys tended to worship the ground that Dumbledore walked on.

Amelia studied him carefully as he made his way into her office. He was tall, lean, and clearly in very good shape. The single earring he wore marked him as something of a maverick, but was still reasonably tasteful. The lines of his face suggested that he smiled a lot, but that smile was nowhere in evidence today; what she saw instead was a very well hidden sort of exhaustion.

That worried her.

She rose and went through the usual greeting ritual before they sat down to business. He seemed… not distracted, per se, but perhaps preoccupied. She wasn't quite sure what to call it, but it was also worrisome.

"How can the DMLE help you, Mr. Weasley?" she inquired.

Bill took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. "I'm here to report a couple of things, and I'm not even sure where to start," he told her. "I know you have a lot going on right now with what happened to Harry, and I don't have any reason to believe this is related, but I'm obligated to report it, and it's big enough that I felt I had to come to you directly."

Amelia's brow furrowed as she made sense of his statement. "What makes it a concern for the Director?" she asked simply.

"Hogwarts is required to report missing students, aren't they?" he asked.

"They are," she nodded. "They have to notify us as soon as they discover it. The penalties for failure to comply with that law can be quite severe."

"Then someone is going to pay those penalties," he said quietly.

Amelia frowned deeply. "Who is missing?"

Bill studied her for a long moment, and she was surprised at the intensity of it. There was something more than a missing person here, of that she was certain. She had no idea what it could be, though.

Rather than answer her, he drew a letter from his pocket and handed it to her.

"That will explain," he said quietly. "Hogwarts never notified anybody so far as I'm aware, and I did look into it for obvious reasons."

Amelia stared him down briefly, but he didn't so much as flinch. Finally she turned to the letter; it was addressed to him in a feminine hand that she didn't recognize. After a quick check for any magic — a standard blood seal was all she found — she opened the letter and read.

The content of that letter was staggering.

She closed her eyes as she worked through it in her head. The Weasley family was widely considered to be one of the pinnacles of the Light. For them to threaten to disown their only daughter was beyond shocking. And then for Hogwarts not to notice her missing? That was a very big problem.

Finally she opened her eyes and stared at him. "Leaving your sister aside for a moment, what actions have you taken?" she asked him. In this context, she actually did have the right to inquire; if what Ginevra had said about Molly and Arthur was true, then the other Weasley children could be in danger.

Bill swiped a hand over his face, his obvious exhaustion finally leaking through in his demeanor. "I never got the letters she said she sent me, and I sure as hell couldn't ignore this one, so I immediately did as she asked," he told her bluntly. "I blocked my parents' access to the Family Magic, and fortunately I caught it before they found out that Ginny is gone. Then I forced them to St. Mungo's."

He leaned over her desk and put his head in his hands, and she could practically feel his grief. This was not going to be good. And sure enough–

"Mum is insane," he said faintly. "The Mind Healers confirmed that she has very serious problems."

"Insane?" asked Amelia with a deep frown. "Are you sure?"

"They called it functional insanity," he replied. "She goes about her day like anyone else does, but what she's hearing and seeing is not what everyone else is hearing and seeing. She's living in a constant fantasy world. They said it's probably incurable."

Amelia had heard of such things, and it was usually (though not always) the result of improper use of dark magic. It was somewhat similar in nature to a multiple personality disorder, and yet totally different. Basically, the effects of the magic fractured the mind.

"And your father?" she asked warily.

"Love potions," he spat. "Long term. They're weaning him off right now, but it'll be a week or two before he'll be totally himself again. According to the Healer, he's been on them for at least thirty years."

Amelia sat back in shock. Bill was implying that Molly Weasley née Prewett had committed line theft! That was considered to be a hideous crime in their world, and would have a massive impact on the family.

"Merlin!" she breathed. "Do you know if it happened before they got married?"

"Not yet," he sighed. "But it's a fairly good bet, Madam Bones. And I'm not sure yet what to do about it. We'll have to wait until Dad is in his right mind. And that's assuming he recovers emotionally in a reasonable timeframe. The only saving grace is that Mum isn't leaving St. Mungo's any time soon."

Amelia shook her head in astonishment. "Again leaving your sister aside for the moment, what are your plans?"

"I'm the man of the house for now," Bill shrugged. "Not what I want, but I have a responsibility. Gringotts has granted me leave to deal with it. I should tell you that my brother Charlie is the only other one in the family who knows right now. We're hoping to keep it quiet until Dad can be there, but we'll see."

"And who is watching the children now?" she asked, one eyebrow cocked.

"Charlie is," he said wryly. "I'm not nearly foolish enough to leave the twins unsupervised."

Amelia chuckled; even she had heard of the infamous Weasley Twins. Susan had stories.

It sounded like he had things well under control. Now that she had the background, it was time to move on. She was not ignoring that Hogwarts had failed to notify them about their missing child, and that was a really, really big problem.

"Okay," she said calmly, "is there anything else I need to know about that side of things?"

"Not that I know of," he said with a shake of his head. "I know you needed to hear all that, but most of it is private family business."

"Agreed," she nodded. "Now tell me about your sister, please."

Bill sighed and leaned back in his chair again, the strain on him suddenly that much more apparent. He was deeply worried about Ginevra, as he should be. But she had a feeling that she wasn't going to get much more. And she wasn't wrong.

"As far her current status and the reasons for it, you know as much as I do," he told her bluntly. "I've wracked my brains trying to figure out where she might have gone, but I've come up empty. She has no money, and no other means either."

"Could she have help?" asked Amelia, a suspicion starting to niggle at her.

"I suppose it's possible," he frowned, "but so far as I'm aware she only has two friends at Hogwarts, and doesn't even like them much. Who would she ask?"

Amelia's eyebrows went up in surprise. "She doesn't like her friends?" she wondered.

"The only things she's ever said about them in letters to me is when they annoy her," he frowned. "It's odd, but I don't really know much about them beyond their names and that they annoy her."

"What are their names?" she asked.

"Dana Kelsoe and Rebecca Coates."

Amelia scribbled that down. "That's a possible lead," she said simply. "They may know something."

"Possibly," he nodded. "But if I know my sister, she's long gone by now. She never does anything by halves. And with her headed out of the country, I don't know what to do, or how we can find her."

"That's my job, Mr. Weasley," she said bluntly, though not unkindly. "Leave that to me. One other question: has she had any contact with Harry Potter?"

Bill blinked hard. "As far as I know, none," he told her. "They completely ignored each other when he stayed with us over the summer. You think his death played into her decision?" he frowned. "She did have a pretty big crush on him at one time."

Amelia suppressed a snort of morbid amusement at the latter point, and studied Bill intently. For a Weasley, this one was different somehow. She had a sneaking suspicion that she could trust him not to go running to Albus with whatever he learned, and the timing was far too coincident. There were possibilities here.

She might gain something by trusting him, though she wasn't quite certain what that would be. She trusted her instincts, though.

"You're a curse breaker, correct?" she asked him. "And that means you know a great deal of magical theory?"

Bill blinked again. "Yes," he nodded. "Most of my job is actually research. Breaking curses is easy, it's figuring out how to break them safely that's hard."

"An accurate description," she agreed with a slight smile. "Tell me, Mr. Weasley, is it possible to use a vanishing charm on a corpse, let alone a living person?"

Bill's brow furrowed at the question, and he sat back in thought. She gave him a few moments; he was clearly working it out in his head. She had a feeling he was very good at his job.

"No," he frowned. "Not unless they've been dead for weeks at the least. The residual magic in the body, especially for a witch or wizard, would make it damn near impossible."

"That's my assessment as well," she agreed, "and yet that would be the listed cause of Mr. Potter's presumed death."

Bill stared hard at her, a light coming into his eyes, but she still didn't feel like she'd made a mistake. He was reassessing her, and probably putting at least one of the pieces together that she already had. Timing mattered; it was possible that Ginevra had used his presumed death to cover her own departure, but she didn't believe in true coincidences.

"You think he's still alive," he said bluntly.

"Yes, I do," she told him, looking him in the eye as she did. "I have very little evidence, but too much does not add up about what we found. Personally, I think he took advantage of whatever actually happened to remove himself from Dumbledore's control."

Silence reigned for a moment, and then he settled himself more comfortably and fixed her with a businesslike gaze. "First of all, call me Bill," he offered. "Second, my lips are sealed until you tell me otherwise. Third, if you can, please tell me what makes you think that and why you think my sister might be with him, which is where I assume you're going with this."

A slight smile escaped her control. She was definitely right about this one. But rather than answer him, she reached into her desk and pulled out a copy of Harry's letter to her, which she then handed to him.

"The existence of that letter is currently confidential," she warned. "You're the first person I've even told about it, and when you read it, you will see that there is very good reason for that."

Bill nodded, and quickly opened it. His eyes widened as he read, and she could practically see him reaching some of the same conclusions that she had. And when he finished, he read it through a second time, much more slowly. Finally, he checked the blood seal.

"Damn," he breathed.

"It gets worse," she told him, drawing his gaze once again. "I've confirmed the information on the Dursleys. I also found a geas on my niece, and removed it. She was able to confirm a fair bit of the rest."

Bill's gaze went distant, his jaw falling open slightly in his inattention. She gave him the time; it was quite the bombshell. When it finally exploded, it was going to send shockwaves throughout their society.

"What is Dumbledore playing at?" asked Bill faintly.

"I don't know," frowned Amelia. "But I intend to find out. He will be arrested when he returns from his ICW meeting. Fudge has already been sternly warned, and he won't say a word. I've got him dead to rights for obstruction of justice and false imprisonment on the matter of Black, so he's not willing to get in my way at the moment."

Bill nodded, and refocused on her again. "You think my sister is with him?" he asked.

"It's a possibility," she nodded. "I don't believe in coincidence. The timing is too perfect. And who's to say that they had no contact behind everyones' backs? If Mr. Potter truly had minders, he may have found a way around them. Had to have, in fact, to have that letter sent."

"True," nodded Bill. "And while I don't know him well, I could easily tell that he's smarter than he wants people to think. The letter just confirms that."

Amelia nodded in agreement. "There's more going on here than meets the eye," she said. "I have to treat your sister's case separately on an official level, but I'm willing to place a pretty sizable wager that they're together out there somewhere."

Bill nodded slowly. "Okay, how do we proceed?" he asked. "I know I can't have much official involvement, but is there any way I can help?"

That made Amelia let out a rare, genuine smile. "At the moment? Keep your eyes open, and be aware that I'm going to need to question Ronald, and possibly under Veritaserum. If he was spying on Mr. Potter for Dumbledore, then I need to know all that I can about it."

"I'd prefer to avoid the Veritaserum," he frowned, "but if it's necessary, then so be it. This isn't schoolyard consequences we're talking about."

"Thank you," she nodded. "Beyond that? I'll interview your sister's friends, and also Miss Granger for Mr. Potter's case. I have a few other contacts that I need to go see, but we won't have answers for a while yet. Even if they've truly left the country, we may be able to find them. The real question is, what do we do if we succeed?"

Bill's eyes widened and he sat back in his chair again. "That… is a very good question," he frowned. "If Dumbledore has been mucking about with Harry and putting him in danger, then bringing him back is the last thing we should do, presuming that he's in a good situation."

"I was hoping you'd say that," she nodded. "I feel the same. But be prepared that your sister may need to remain out of the country as well. I have a suspicion that her friends may have been minders just as Mr. Potter's were. If that is the case, then Albus' gaze is also on her for some reason."

===[~]===

A/N: My appointment was surprisingly short, so here's today's installment! I hope you all enjoyed it. =)

goku90504: Hermione won't be fully addressed for quite some time yet. As for Molly and Arthur, here you go! =)

Urgazhi: This Harry strikes me as the type who would deliberately repress, partly because he doesn't want to ruin things with her, and partly because it's just natural after life with the Dursleys.

GinnyPotter6891: You wish is my coincidence. =)

ReverendKilljoy: Thank you for the compliment! I think one of my own enjoyments of this story is watching Ginny as she tries to understand him. =)

See you tomorrow! =)