Chapter 14

Arriving at Daphne's flat had been a quick and easy journey. The woman was incredibly thankful that she had been too busy to make a big mess of her place as she went straight for her bedroom to gather a few things, while Harry merely called over to her, "Try not to take too long. Let's not stress Susan out anymore than necessary. She's had a rather traumatic day."

Daphne nodded at this thinking that might have been an understatement as she went into her closet for a bag. The young woman quickly began organizing a few outfits to take just in case the need to stay longer arised. She moved as fast as possible, but she stopped when she heard Harry shuffling around outside her closet. When she came out he was holding the photo of her family in Rome that sat on her bedside, "Kingsley told me about your dad. I'm sorry for your loss."

Daphne swallowed thickly at his words, "Yeah well I lost a lot less than some."

"That doesn't make it any easier." Harry said softly.

"No I don't suppose it does." Daphne said simply.

A few moments passed as they both looked at the picture, and she thought about the day she had before asking, "Harry...when you were telling us about where you were this afternoon you mentioned a man you bumped into with a scratch on his face. Do you think he could have something to do with all this?"

The head of the DMLE frowned at her question, "I asked Savage about the man, and he said that he never saw anyone matching the description I gave."

"What if he took something off you when you bumped into each other, or even nicked you. There is something unsettling, and maybe even a little familiar about the man you described. You yourself said blood magic could be involved, and that may have been the opportunity to get it from you. It would only take the slightest drop that you may not have even felt if it was taken by muggle means." Daphne said thoughtfully.

Harry scratched the back of his head before thinking hard for several moments, "Maybe we should take a step into the pensieve. See if you recognize the man."

Daphne's eyes widened, "You have a pensieve?"

Harry nodded, "I pulled it out of the Potter Vault. It's quite useful, and maybe we can take a look at it."

Daphne had always loved enchanted objects, and was excited at the prospect of getting to see one in action, "I'd like that."

A short moment passed before Harry sighed, "Are you ready?"

The blonde woman nodded, "Yes, let's go."

Harry offered his arm to the girl, and the two apparated straight into the living area on the second floor of Potter Manor where most of the group was sitting at the bar stools with no alcohol in sight. Heads raised at their arrival, but no one got up or approached the two as Harry began walking straight towards the stairs that would lead to his bedroom.

Daphne peered off towards Susan who looked like she was trying to keep a passive countenance, "Holding up okay?"

The red haired woman jerked her head up towards Daphne as if she were seeing her very suddenly, "Sorry what did you say Daphne?"

Realizing the young woman must've zoned out, and was likely exhausted she just put an arm on the girl's shoulder, "Just checking on you. Are you okay?"

"I have certainly had better days. Seamus is a prat, but he is still one of us. I am really worried about him. Just when I thought we were finally going to catch a break." Susan said, sounding a little defeated.

Daphne took a deep breath taking in the girl's words, "Like you said Seamus has done something like this before so maybe he is shacked up with some woman."

"He's better than he was though. I thought he had changed, and I think he really has, which is what worries me more." Susan admitted.

Deciding to change the subject Daphne asked, "Are Teddy and Andromeda already out?"

"Yes." Susan said quietly, "Andromeda survived both wars, and lost so much family in each. The thought of the conflicts still not being over is really affecting her. Having to protect little Teddy from Harry's enemies is always a full time job, and I think she wishes to remain as ignorant as possible to make the stress as low as it can be."

Daphne could not blame the woman for that. She had only been a part of one wizarding conflict, and that was more than enough to last her a lifetime. Before she could say anything further on the topic Harry came downstairs with a flat tray in his hand, and tossed it into the air like a frisbee. The tray moved in slow motion through the room, and stopped in the middle simply levitating about three feet off the ground, "Alright everyone listen up. Everyone in this room is in the know about the events of yesterday, and I want everyone to get what rest they can, but before they do I want to show you all a brief memory. For those of you unfamiliar with my family's pensieve, this one will project the memory above the tray, and we should all be able to watch it together without diving in. For obvious reasons this is all being classified as a state secret, so do not leak out anything you are about to see."

No one stirred or said a word as the images began projecting into a mist above the pensieve. The group saw Harry sitting in his office overlooking paperwork on his desk. The scene quickly unfolded when Amanda came in to tell him about Kingsley requesting him, and then the encounter with the man with a long scratch on his face. Both Tracey and Daphne froze at the site of the man, and Harry gave a soft command making the pensieve freeze, "Silentium."

Most of the eyes were on Harry, but the two Slytherin girls had their eyes on the man in the image, while Harry's eyes were on them. Harry asked, "You two know this man?"

Tracey swallowed hard, while Daphne looked at the image with surprise etched into her face, "That man is Tiberius Nott."

Susan, who no longer looked so tired, immediately asked, "Tiberius Nott? I am not familiar with the man. Though of course I am familiar with the family. What's the relationship between the two Theodore Notts?"

Tracey answered that, "Theodore Nott Sr, who held the seat on the Wizengamot, was the head of the family since the first war. When both son and senior died at the Battle of Hogwarts the seat became unoccupied because the rest of the vast family lives on the continent. Tiberius Nott is one of the senior's many brothers. The youngest if I remember correctly."

Ron looked at the girl strangely, "That's an odd thing to know about a classmate."

Daphne sighed, "Theo was more than our classmate. In our early Hogwarts years he was our friend. We met Tiberius Nott at several birthday gatherings during the Summer. He was an odd man, and with scars like that he leaves an impression."

Harry frowned, "Can you tell us anything else about the man? What did he do for a living? How did he get those scars?"

"What might he be doing here at the Ministry?" Hermione asked with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Was he a psychotic nutter?" Neville added helpfully.

Both girls stared at the man clearly trying to think of anything. Tracey was the first to offer something, "The Nott family was famous for its potioneers, but I am unsure if that was his profession."

Daphne added, "I think he bragged that his scratches came from a Veela. I seemed to recall him calling her a filthy half breed."

"Nice guy." Hannah said smoothly, clearly already deciding to dislike the man.

"The Nott family has been entrenched with racism, and supremacy for generations. I doubt anyone in the Nott household flinched at it being thrown about blatantly." Tracey said sadly.

"Charming people like that I can see what you mean by leaving an impression." Hermione said, clearly infuriated.

Daphne stood pacing about a bit, and she knew all the eyes were on her, "If Tiberius Nott is in the country it is possible he is trying to petition the Wizengamot for his family seat. Which whether he is involved in the development of the tapes or not it is good we identified the man. He is just the type of man the traditionalist could get behind to start attempting to slow down the progressives."

"I will make sure Shack is informed." Hermione said helpfully.

Daphne barely acknowledged the girl as she continued to whirl her brain through possibilities, "If the Nott seat is to be retaken then he will need to have gathered support through the Neutral, and the Pureblood faction. Someone should be able to tell us how long he has been in country."

Harry spoke softly, "The Nott family being a part of the Sacred Twenty Eight would give us plausible belief that they could possess an item such as a skeleton key, or something similar in function." The man sighed heavily, "Well at least now we have a suspect."

Susan added, "But until Seamus turns up we don't even have a real crime."

Neville blew air out of his chest dramatically, "Well it wouldn't be the first time Seamus went missing for an evening to be in bed with some woman. Maybe the caution is for nothing."

This led to nods of agreement from the group, while Harry clapped his hands, "Well you guys all know the drill. Anything you need just call for me or the elves, but with Teddy and Andy sleeping in the other room I just ask everyone to try to keep the volume at a reasonable level."

It was a reasonable request that sent everyone to bed that evening, and all were anxious for the events that would follow the next day.

Scene Break

Daphne woke the next morning earlier than normal. The young healer had not been an early riser since she left Hogwarts due to her apprenticeship starting on the overnight shift at Saint Mungos, but regardless she had been restless the night before, and rose as the sun was rising. Her usual rising time on a work day would be closer to noon or even later, but as she began to stir the anticipation for news out weighed her desire to grab a few more hours of sleep as she paced around the room. It was nearing 8am when she decided to head downstairs to see who may be up for the day.

It wasn't such a surprise to find everyone in the house awake and downstairs in the kitchen. Unlike last time when people were reading the newspaper or looking at upcoming agendas the gathered group was just staring at cups of coffee, and seemed to be waiting for something to happen. The only thing that seemed to be genuinely good was little Teddy Lupin chatting happily with Andromeda Tonks. The little boy was clearly clueless to the tension in the room as he spoke to his grandmother about a drawing he had been working on the day before.

The next thing Daphne noticed was the distinct absence of Harry and Susan. This also added to the differences from the last time she woke at Potter Manor because this time two elves were snapping their fingers, and making breakfast as fast as magic would allow unlike how Harry had done it by hand.

Before Daphne could question the elephant in the room Hermione's eyes fell on her, "Good morning Daphne. Harry and Susan both answered an urgent call to the Ministry about an hour ago."

The young woman froze as she was reaching for a chair to take a seat. Her eyes glanced towards the little boy before she asked, "Did Finnegan make it to work okay?"

Hermione bit her lip, and looked worried, but she shook her head. Ron answered for her, "We don't know."

Neville supplied the answer to the next question forming in her head, "Harry and Susan are the only real aurors. As far as investigations go we aren't really supposed to get involved or we would all be there."

Ron agreed, "We are deputized in the field, and can be a part of the planning, but that's really it. We have been waiting for word."

The man clearly had an iron grip on his coffee mug, and she said nothing further as she took a look at the witch in the seat next to her. Tracey looked like she slept about as much as she did. Her brown hair wasn't quite perfectly straight like she normally liked it, and her bangs were a little messier than Daphne was used to seeing even in the small hours of the night at work.

Breakfast was served shortly after Daphne sat down, but it was clear appetites at the table were not very high. Even Ron who had a legendary iron stomach did not seem to be indulging besides a few bites every few minutes. The atmosphere would've been much more tense had little Teddy not been giggling at Ron for being a "grumpy pants".

When breakfast was over Andromeda dismissed herself and Teddy to take a walk on the grounds. Hermione looked like she wanted to protest, but Andromeda assured them all that she was once a Black, and every bit as formidable as her sisters if the need arose to protect herself and Teddy. It also helped that elves would definitely be keeping an eye on the two as they moved across the massive estate.

Another hour or so passed before anything was heard from the Ministry. The news came in the form of Susan Bones walking out of the floo, and by the look on her face everyone knew she wasn't bringing good news. She gathered the small group that had remained in the kitchen and moved them to the common room upstairs where they had gathered the night before when she began to speak, "At around 630am the night team of aurors returned from the field, and found a box in the waiting area. It was addressed to Harry, so Savage, the auror Captain in charge called him to check it out. They of course knew of the warning from the day before, because several of the field aurors had been looking over the Ministers home last night. They were on high alert last night, but there had been no sign of anything out of the ordinary until they returned to the field office."

Susan took a deep breath, and looked like she was trying not to get upset, "Obviously the package arrival in the middle of the night is highly irregular because the auror office is closed after hours. Only an auror would know how to get through the protective enchantments that let you through the front door, and there are aurors coming in and out all night, but still the package was found right at shift change."

The auror in front of the group was battle hardened, had survived the war, survived the battle of Hogwarts, but clearly was still disturbed by whatever happened. The silence in the room was a clear indication that everyone realized just how drastic the information she held was. Some time passed as the young woman collected herself, "When Harry and I arrived…"

POV Change

Harry and Susan were walking through the quiet halls of the Ministry. The weekend was always quieter than normal, but the silence seemed ominous as the two were answering the call of Marcus Savage.

Arriving at the auror department front door they had hardly exchanged a single word, and before they opened the door Harry placed his hand on it, but didn't push it open. Susan was unsure why the man had stopped, but after a moment he spoke, "It's happening again."

The young woman placed a soft hand on his arm, "We don't know that yet Harry. For all we know this is still just one stupid prank."

The man who conquered hesitated, "No, something isn't right. I can feel it. Ever since we took down that last group of Death Eaters I was hesitant to allow myself to believe that it could actually be over."

"It can't last forever Harry. We will make it through this. We always do." The red headed witch said gently.

Harry nodded, taking a deep breath before pushing through the door. He could hear the doubt in his head aurors voice, but steeled his nerves as he pushed through. The first thing he saw was a group of purple cloaked individuals exchanging quiet words with Captain Savage and a few other senior aurors who had stuck around to see the end results. Savage, the big burly light brown haired auror, gave his superior officer a nod as he entered, "Good morning Director Potter."

Usually Harry would quip at the man for being so formal, but in the presence of unspeakables he understood the formality, "Unspeakable Croaker good morning. Good morning Captain Savage. What do we have?"

Savage spoke back immediately, "Package came in somewhere between 530 and 630. I was here for most of the evening, but we answered a distress call from the floo Network at around 530 this morning. When we returned this package was waiting in the reception area. I have confirmed there were no aurors in the department at the time we were gone."

"Who was the auror to report it in?" Harry asked, looking at the large purple and green gift box that sat on the counter.

"Proudfoot sir. He was the incoming auror captain for the morning. He was here, but went to oversee the relief of Minister Shacklebolt's guards." Savage answered easily.

The silence that followed left time for Unspeakable Croaker to speak, "The package is clean. We've run every test we can think of, and it is purely unmagical in nature."

The grey haired older man had a hand on his face, and his eyes never even went to Harry as he spoke about the package. It was clear the man believed the box had insidious purposes, but what they were was anyones best guess. Harry took a deep breath asking, "Your department deems it safe to open?"

The man gave a brief nod, and Harry stepped forward to the box. The ribbons were well wrapped, but the fact that the entire thing was non magical meant even that was done by hand. That may seem unimportant in the moment, but perhaps it would be a clue later on Harry thought passively as he slid the ribbon apart, and reached his shaking hands out to remove the lid of the package off the wrapped box. When Harry looked within the package his insides froze, and he blinked hard several times. He placed the lid on the counter, and then stepped away putting one hand in his face. Others quickly stepped in to see what was inside the box, and gasps were heard immediately. Harry felt a familiar embrace go around his midsection as a face pressed against the back of his shoulder. Silence fell over the group for several moments, and the Unspeakable broke it, "Potter there is another tape recorder."

Harry turned to face it, while Susan continued to look away. Seamus' head was lifted out of the box magically, and in his mouth between his teeth was a tape recorder sitting there helplessly. A look of horror was etched on the young man's face, and pain was clearly shown in his eyes. Harry lifted his hand, summoning the tape recorder slowly to his hand, and saw black ink this time etched into the recorder 'PLAY ME'.

"Greetings Director Potter. I welcome you to this game. I hope you remember this moment where I took a dear one from you. I remember when you took one of mine away, and it haunts me to this day. I can only hope the same will be said for you." The sinister voice from the night before filled the silent lobby. It was the same distortion, and it filled everyone with dread, "Unlike the victims of your past I gave Captain Finnegan a fighting chance, but it is no surprise he failed his test, and well...lost his head as a consequence." The laughter that followed made Harry angrier than he had been in a long time, and a nearby light in the ceiling exploded making everyone flinch hard, "That is enough about the dead however let's talk about you. The man who continues to take from this country without consequence. The man who destroys families, and breaks apart lives of those who have spent many generations building. Let me tell you Director Potter the people of this country will no longer stand for it. I am sure you have heard my demands by now, but let me reinforce the idea that I am serious now that you have a dead friend within arms length of you. The aurors are to lose their right to lethal force, and since the Minister did not take my first threat seriously I will add another demand. You will step down as the Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement immediately, or tomorrow you will find another head of another comrade. You have my conditions, Director Potter. Let the games begin."

Harry stared at the tape in his hand for a long moment before tossing it on the reception desk, "Savage do me a favor, and tell Proudfoot I will be unavailable for the next few hours. I will be going to Mr. and Mrs. Finnegans house myself to break the news."

Savage immediately protested, "Director Potter I insist you take some other aurors with you. Whoever the monster is that did this he is out there, and clearly has some type of beef with you. It is unsafe sir."

Harry's eyes pulsed with power as they shot to his auror captains, "I hope I run into him Marcus, because only death waits for whoever did this to my friend. Put an APB out on Tiberius Nott. I want to talk to him too. Send him an owl, and tell him he has until 6PM to be in my office, or I will kick his fucking door down. He is our only suspect right now, and we need to get this done before he becomes a Lord of the Wizengamot, and then we can't touch him."

The man began striding back the way he came out the door, and no one, not even Susan dared to stop him.

(A/N) Firstly I apologize immensely for this one day delay! I lost track of my days with how much work I've been doing recently, and really I am sorry. On with this update though. The plot thickens, and Mr. Finnegan is the first blood in this story. I can only imagine the theories of who all of you think may be next is, and I welcome to hear your thoughts on just how this story is progressing!

To answer reviewers:

ThunderOfDeath97:

Honestly I have nothing against doing all three, but I have done it before so I am reluctant to do the same thing again even in a different story. Thanks for reviewing!

NateTheGreat and MyMelo:

Thanks for reviewing, and I am happy you are enjoying the story!

To Jamervan:

I did make this correction last week because of your complaint. I can see how Romance isn't a secondary tag worthy here, but it is important to me if that makes a difference whether you stick with the story or not. It is coming! Thanks for reviewing.