Chapter 3 – The Emerald Shell
"Hi, Harry!"
Agent Tally Dexter was standing slightly ahead of Director Harizanis. She beamed at the group descending from the aircraft.
Director Harizanis swerved around her and approached Harry, his hand outstretched.
"Welcome back, Harry," he said, pumping Harry's hand up and down.
"Kostas," Harry smiled, retrieving his hand. "Good to see you again, sir. And under better circumstances."
"Not so much better, Harry," the director warned. "None of this is, strictly speaking, official. I've had to keep it between those of us who already knew about it."
Harry nodded. "I understand. We've done much the same at our end."
"At least you have the Minister for Magic on your side, Harry. I've had to keep it away from our politicians. It's not that I don't trust them… Ah, who am I kidding? That's exactly what it is," Kostas grimaced.
Harry gave him a wry smile. "That's pretty much how Kingsley sees it, as well. He doesn't count himself as a politician."
They turned to the others. Tally had greeted them all and was now gingerly shaking hands with the grubby Pelicus.
"Hello, everyone. Please make your way to the limousine." The director's words were more of a command than an invitation.
They looked to the edge of the airfield apron where a long, sleek car crouched in waiting. The group began to move in that direction.
Director Harizanis approached the pilot. "Captain Treddle. Thank you for your assistance."
"You're welcome, Super Snooper," Pelicus grinned.
"I think we can continue to turn a blind eye to your operation," the director replied. "At least while I am in position."
"Thanks very much," Pelicus nodded.
"Don't thank me too quickly, I may not be in the job much longer at this rate."
Harry and Kostas followed the others to the limousine. They turned to wave to Pelicus but the Vimy had already gone.
"How does he do that?" Harry wondered aloud.
"Erm. Begins with 'M', rhymes with 'Tragic'?" Ron suggested.
Lydia and Ambrose chuckled.
"Thanks, Ron," Harry smirked.
"An encyclopaedic knowledge of the technical issues," Ambrose noted.
"Glad to help," Ron grinned.
The limousine's doors opened all around, revealing an empty interior. Xander leaped in and curled up on one of the leather-upholstered bench seats.
"This looks like the one Pelicus arranged for us last time," Ron said.
Director Harizanis groaned. "This is an official MBI vehicle. I reckon I'm beginning to see how Captain Treddle gets away with his little operation."
Once they were all inside and the doors were closed, the huge car set off smoothly. It followed the perimeter track of the airfield until they reached the turn onto the public road. The limousine took them through the countryside and into the city of Trenton.
"Trenton," Ambrose observed. "A city which was briefly the capital of the United States. It is named after some illustrious chappie by the name of William Trent. I suspect he was a wealthy merchant, such was the way of things in those days."
"Also, the state capital of New Jersey, these days," Tally added.
The limousine turned on to a road taking them across a park. They followed the narrow park tracks until they came to a barrier. The limousine slowed.
"This is Cadwalader Park," Director Harizanis told them. "The building over there is the City Museum. We drive through the barrier and the MBI building will be visible."
Ambrose nodded. "Hidden in plain sight, as is the custom."
"Just like the barrier at King's Cross," Lydia said, as they passed through the barrier and the view changed.
"Pardon me?" Tally asked.
"We've got similar stuff back home," Ron almost explained.
The MBI headquarters was a low, slick, monolithic building with a patchwork of darkened windows. They pulled up in front of a wide double doorway with doors of deep green, opaque glass.
Harizanis turned to the others.
"Here's what you guys call a portkey, Harry," he said, handing over a flat blue paperweight. "Tally and I will enter through reception. This will take you directly to my offices. You must not be seen. We will meet you there."
The paperweight began to glow, indicating that it was time for the visitors to go. Ron, Lydia and Ambrose reached to touch it as Harry held it out. After a brief rushing sensation, they found themselves sitting on a carpeted office floor.
Within a few minutes Director Harizanis and Tally joined them. Lydia was perched on the edge of a chair, with Xander twisting his sleek body through her hands. Ron and Harry sat at a table, poring over a list of questions they had compiled to put to Alorea Rakissen. Ambrose was behind the expansive desk, luxuriating in the director's reclining chair. He was examining a cigar case he had fished out from a desk drawer.
The director grunted. "Confiscated from Gretsky, again. Hard to believe a commandant in the MBI would have such a problem following rules."
"Oh, I do not know," Ambrose mused. "He is a leader – not used to following, you see."
Harizanis narrowed his eyes. Ambrose rose from the director's desk.
"There are a couple more people to join us," the director told them all. "Then we should proceed, if that's OK?"
They all looked in Lydia's direction. She swallowed.
She sighed. "The sooner the better, I suppose,"
There was a knock at the door. The director's personal assistant spoke from outside.
"Commandant Gretsky and Agent Dexter to see you, sir."
"Send them in, Alice, if you would," he called back to her.
The door opened and Commandant Gretsky rumbled into the office, Tally's twin brother, Toby, shuffling after, in his tracks.
"Commandant Gretsky, Toby. Great to see you again," Harry greeted them.
Lydia smiled. Xander eyed them imperiously. Ron grinned. The director nodded in their direction. Ambrose stepped around the desk and was the first to shake them by the hand.
"Now that we are all here, ladies and gentlemen," Harizanis announced. "If you would please follow me."
He drew his wand and touched it to the front of what had appeared to be an ordinary filing cabinet. The wooden drawer fronts seemed to melt and reform into a door. He opened it, revealing a corridor. At the far end, they could see a formidable iron door, braced and riveted such that it looked to have been constructed in a shipyard.
They followed Harizanis into the corridor. Lydia gripped the reassuring warmth of her cat.
The room beyond the iron door was gloomy and cavernous. Lydia shivered as she stepped inside. Spaced out around the high stone walls were burning torches in sconces. They cast a cool greenish glow. The light from the torches did not reach the ceiling which was, presumably, somewhere way above. On a raised plinth in the centre of the fifty-metre square floor stood the egg. It balanced on its end slightly above the surface, looking as though it was suspended by an invisible cord. At each corner of the plinth, torches stood in high stands, lighting the egg. The figure of Alorea Rakissen could be seen inside the egg, unmoving.
The group paced across the floor towards the plinth. Nobody spoke. The sound of their footsteps was clear and harsh, tapping and shuffling. The sounds were unnaturally loud, reverberating back from the walls. The effect was ominous, speaking of the enormity of the task ahead.
As they arrived at the edge of the plinth Director Harizanis cleared his throat. "I propose that we place our agents in a circle around the egg, several paces back from the edge of the plinth. That way Rakissen is covered from all around and from low down, so nobody is likely to be hit by crossfire. Harry and I will stand either side of Lydia. I would suggest, Ambrose, that you stand behind me. But something tells me you are going to do whatever the heck you like."
"Very astute of you, Kostas," Ambrose commended him. "I shall place myself behind Lydia, with the intention of placing her behind the three of us, should events take a threatening turn."
The director scowled. "Lydia, all this is precautionary – that is, just in case. You have already proven that you're more powerful than Rakissen. If you can open the egg, you can close it around her again."
Harizanis knelt down so he was face-to-face with Lydia. He smiled and stroked his finger on Xander's head. Xander looked up serenely from where he lay in Lydia's arms.
"Remember, Lydia," the grizzled director said with real warmth. "There's nothing here you have to do. You are doing us a favour. If you can release her long enough for us to question her, that will aid our cause. If you can't we will still be very grateful."
"Thank you, sir," Lydia said, attempting a smile.
Now that the moment had arrived the egg and its occupant seemed larger than she remembered. 'Larger than life', as the saying went, they loomed over her. She gave Xander a hug. He butted her shoulder with his head.
"Well, Xander," she murmured. "It's show time, I suppose."
"Lydia," Ambrose said. "Take your time. Do not feel the need to push your powers. Be yourself and concentrate on whatever it is that you want to achieve. Also, you should probably bear in mind how exceptionally splendid you are – rather like your uncle."
Lydia gave him a wan smile. She took a deep breath and gazed up at the egg through half-closed eyes. She felt Xander begin to purr. The sensation was inexpressibly comforting. She relaxed and tried to focus her mind on the egg.
She felt the same sort of power she had felt in that moment in Alorea's lair. It had none of the urgency she had felt then. The circumstances were completely different, of course. She had been angry and scared. Harry was in danger of dying. Ron and Tally and Toby were seriously injured. They had run a gauntlet of trials and horrors based on their innermost fears. Despite the differences, she recognised the power, the taste, of the same magic she had cast then.
Her mind reached out to the surface of the egg. She let the power of her magic flow from her and Xander down the connection she had made with the egg. She felt it move out from them and touch the egg. It slid off.
She tried again, this time more forcefully. The power did not reach the egg. Something was in the way. She pushed harder still. She met the barrier even further from the egg.
She stopped and turned to the others.
"No luck?" Harry asked.
"I'll try again," she said. "I've thought of something else."
She turned to the egg again and reached out with her mind. This time she sent the power as gently as she could. It caressed the surface of the cage. She let it lie on the egg for a few moments, then let it gently flow around the egg's curvature. Still there was something preventing her. It felt as though the egg had a slippery coating. Her power would not go where she wanted. It swirled and skidded over this frictionless outer shell.
She tried for some time to probe the surface of the egg for cracks, weak spots, or irregularities. She came across nothing she could use. In a last desperate bid to open the egg, she pushed as hard as she could with her power, trying to crush it, crack it, pierce it. Nothing worked. The slippery coating she could feel was stronger than she was. It pushed back harder the harder she tried to penetrate it.
She stepped back and sagged, dropping her power.
"Sorry," she said turning to Harry and the others. "Nothing I've tried works. Something is stopping me."
"Maybe later, you could…" Harry started to say before Ambrose cut him off.
"Harry, I believe that Lydia should become more accustomed to her powers before making another attempt."
"Mr Ward…" Tally began, but Ambrose cut her short, as well.
"Tally, if she is unable to open the egg how can we expect her to recapture Alorea, should such a thing become necessary? We watched on helplessly as Ms Rakissen disappeared – not disapparated – from Hogwarts. Those charms around the school are centuries old, I have read. You cannot know, for sure, that she would not do the same from here. Lydia is currently our best, and possibly only, hope of controlling Alorea in order to question her. I am proud that Lydia wished to help and was prepared to try. However, as I feared, it has proven that she would be best served by attaining some level of academic competence before another attempt."
Tally looked at Harry, then at Toby, then back to Harry. Harry dipped his head a little then nodded.
"It's just that, well, the trail is going cold," Tally said.
"Back home the suspected Death Eaters we didn't catch seem to have disappeared without a trace," Harry complained. "The only thing we have against them is that they disappeared. That's not evidence in the eyes of any court."
Ambrose knelt down next to Lydia and put a hand on her shoulder. He smiled and stroked Xander's cheek with his other hand, as the cat looked out from her embrace.
"I am sorry if it seems that I have been against you, Lydia," the old man smiled. "I have not, I have only been concerned for your welfare. Some time at Hogwarts will give you the confidence and control you need. We shall try again when you are better prepared."
Lydia nodded as her uncle stood again and turned to the group of law-keepers.
Ron took a deep breath. "I agree with you, Ambrose. Asking Lydia to do this now is like asking her… to ride a dragon without telling her how to land."
"We did it," Harry noted.
"Yeah, but we were older," Ron protested. "And I don't know about you but I was convinced we were going to die."
Tally bobbed up and down a little. "That was the escape from the bank, right?"
"Agent Dexter," Gretsky growled.
"Sorry, sir. But… sorry," she muttered.
Gretsky's mouth briefly turned up at the corners.
"I will need to report back to my…" Director Harizanis began. "I'm supposed to call them 'superiors' but sometimes 'tormentors' feels more appropriate. Harry probably knows that feeling."
The Director looked at Harry, then at Gretsky and the two field agents. "I presume you three know better than to ever repeat a word of that?"
"Yessir!" they chorused.
"Wow, you should hear the things we say about you, sir!" Toby chimed in, a fraction of a second before his twin sister stamped on his foot.
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