Chapter Ten

Book Hunt

Cornelius Fudge had a modest two-story townhouse on the outskirts of an upscale wizard neighborhood in London. It was brick and blanketed in ivy; quite the common house if one didn't know what to look for. From the décor inside, it was rather obvious that Fudge had an expensive taste in antiquities, and not all of them were the wizard sort but some from Muggle backgrounds as well. Severus picked up several delicate porcelains off the mantle with a gloved hand, looking them over thoughtfully before setting them precisely where he found them, surveying the room. He rather doubted Fudge would have left the book in the library proper; that would have been too obvious. Then again, Fudge was a bungler by nature, so perhaps he was careless enough to leave it there. He had gone halfway through the shelves when he heard the door rattle and calmly threw on the cloak he had slung on his shoulder, pulling on the hood and disappearing before returning to his work.

A moment later, Cornelius Fudge entered with Ludo Bagman, offering him a seat and taking out a tray. Severus squinted when Fudge peered expectantly inside the teapot.

"Odd. Where the devil are my House Elves?" Fudge asked, gazing around.

"Never mind, Corny, I'm not staying long. I just wanted to make sure you got back all right as unnerved as you are."

"I have a right to be unnerved. You have no idea how many people would prefer me dead right now for one reason or another. Malfoy is angry at me. Dumbledore is definitely not happy. And that's just the tip of the iceberg," Fudge said.

"Oh, come now, Corny, the old man is not out to kill you. Perhaps you'd better take one of those tonics of yours and go to bed. You're starting to sound as paranoid as old Moody. Besides, not all of your friends have abandoned you. I'm here! I might not be much, I suppose, but I can get you free tickets to any Quidditch game you'd like," Ludo offered.

"Ha. As if I'd dare go anywhere so public. My days are numbered, Ludo. I can feel it. It's all a matter of time before they catch up with me."

"Who, Corny? Who are they?" Ludo asked.

"Take your pick," Fudge said, pouring himself a drink out of a glass bottle on the table. "You know, prisons are uncomfortable places, but I felt a lot safer there. Even now, I feel as if someone is watching us, waiting for a chance to act."

"I'm sure it is all in your head, Corny," Ludo assured him as Severus quietly slipped upstairs. "If it'll make you feel better, I can always ask someone from Law Enforcement to drop by and check up on you."

"Just not Ederick, if you don't mind. I'm quite tired of his constant questions," Fudge said.

"All right, all right, Corny," Ludo said. "Here, you can borrow my latest copy of the Insider's Pitch. Lots of good articles in there," he said cheerfully, setting the magazine on the table. "If you're not feeling better in the morning, just drop by the office. I'll let Penelope know to be expecting you."

"Thank you, Ludo," Cornelius said, getting up and walking him to the door. Upon closing it, he locked the door with four different locks both magic and Muggle. With a wave, every light in the house brightened, and he looked around suspiciously.

"Lakky? Lakky, where are you? Are you all right?" he called out, looking around. "Una? Kibbitz?" he shouted from the kitchen door. A drowsy looking House Elf opened up a cabinet and tumbled out, yawning and shaking his head vigorously to wake up.

"Lakky is sorry! Lakky didn't hear master come in, he was sleeping. He is very sorry, master!"

"Where are your brother and sister?" Fudge frowned.

"Fast asleep, but I will wake them at once. They should not be sleeping when the master is here and waiting," Lakky said, grabbing a broom handle three times his size.

"No, not that way! Here, just work on tea and a light supper, will you? I'll be in my room."

"Yes master," Lakky said as Fudge went upstairs.

Severus looked up in annoyance as Fudge came in the room, sighing silently. Couldn't he have stayed downstairs just a little longer? But just then, Severus' interest was piqued when Fudge walked over to the wall, twisting the head of an ornate Satyr statuette. The wall slid to the side, revealing a small vault.

"Spinach Bean," Fudge said, and there was a soft pop as a large dial suddenly appeared on the safe.

He looked around nervously. Why in the world did he feel like someone was breathing down his neck? Attempting to shrug it off, Fudge finished opening the safe. The book he took out wasn't the book that Severus was looking for, but he recognized it right away. It was a very old hand-written spell book, the very one that he had taken from Lorcan a year and a half ago. It was bookmarked in several places, and he had glanced at the different bookmarks until he found the one he wanted, sitting down in a chair next to the fireplace to read. But before Severus could get a good look at what spell Fudge was reading, he was alerted by the presence of a House Elf and quickly backed away.

"Master, master! You are in danger!" Lakky said in a panic. Fudge stood up abruptly, staring at the Elf. "Someone is lurking in the house! A wizard, master."

"Where? Are you sure?" Fudge said and took out his wand, his hand unsteady.

"Yes master! He is… he was… wait, he is gone now."

"Well, don't just stand there, go find him! Find out who it was and return!" Fudge demanded. The Elf left and Fudge went downstairs, quite suspicious. He opened the cabinet where the other two Elves slept, carefully checking for dust and sniffing in the air. Suddenly a whiff of poppy and dragon powder hit him and he had to back away, sneezing. Just then Lakky returned, tugging on his coat.

"Lakky is sorry. Lakky thinks he was mistaken. There was no one here."

"No one here?" Fudge repeated, pointing at the cabinet. "Then how do you explain the smell of Fairynip in your bedchamber?" Lakky's eyes went wide.

"Lakky doesn't know! Lakky doesn't use such things, Master. Una and Kibbitz do not either! We could not serve master well if we're always comfy and sleepy," Lakka said.

"Someone was here," Fudge said, pacing nervously. "First thing tomorrow, I'm going to call Goblin Security and have this place trespasser proofed!"

"Yes, master," Lakky said, following him up the stairs.

Sirius opened the kitchen door to see Severus standing there with a folded up ornate cloak in his arms. He quickly let him in and led him through the dimly lit mansion into his study, closing the door behind them.

"Any luck?" Sirius asked.

"No, and yes," Severus replied. He took out a piece of paper, sitting down to write a note to Harry. "I didn't find what Jennifer was looking for, but I do know that Fudge still has a book that he shouldn't, which is the Tome of Merlin."

"What? How in the world did Fudge get his hands on something like that?" Sirius wanted to know.

"He got it from Lorcan when Lorcan was trying to open the gate to the Otherworld," Severus explained.

"And how did Lorcan get it?" Sirius asked.

"He stole it, I believe, from Lucius Malfoy," Severus said, drying the ink with a spell. He pinned the note carefully on the collar of the ornate cloak.

"All right, and Malfoy got hold of it, how?" Sirius prompted.

"I have no idea." Severus admitted. He opened up a chest behind Sirius' desk, placing the folded cloak inside and closing it. "Harry won't be back until after Halloween, will he?"

"No, not until the fourth week in November. Of course, if there's an emergency, I'm sure he'd come if we asked him."

"No, there's no reason. Unfortunately, the House Elves woke up and Fudge is now suspicious, and I have no doubt he'll increase his security after this. Still, it should be easy enough to get the Tome, if I can get myself invited in," Severus said. Sirius gave him a dubious look.

"Fudge doesn't like you," Sirius pointed out.

"Trust me, the feeling is quite reciprocated. However, I'm sure there are still some out there he'd be willing to allow to speak to him, considering how he's been playing both sides of the fence lately," Severus said grimly. "I have no doubt it will be his undoing, since that's hardly sustainable."

"Playing both sides of the fence… you mean like you did?" Sirius taunted. Severus scowled at him.

"Yes, but that was different. He's an amateur. I'm a professional," Severus replied. Sirius rolled his eyes behind Severus' back. "Besides, I still need to find out what happened to those journals of Janus Craw, which was my original purpose for going in there in the first place."

"Have you thought of getting a record of that last estate auction?" Sirius asked. "Debtor's auctions are usually public files, so if it had been sold during the liquidation, it might be listed in there. Of course, being a book, it also might have been thrown into a lot, which means it wouldn't be as obvious which lot it was in," Sirius mused.

"If that speculation is your way of offering to be useful, feel free to look into it," Severus said. "Bur regardless of where those journals are, I now have a more important priority, which is getting that spell book away from Fudge and into safer hands."

Jennifer had just gathered up the tests from her last morning class and dismissed the students when Ederick Thurspire knocked on the door of her classroom, wearing a somewhat greasy smile on his face.

"Good morning, Professor. Might you have a few moments to chat?" he asked. Jennifer looked at him thoughtfully. What in the world did he think she had done this time?

"Sure, I was about to go to lunch. Care to join me in my office?" she asked, opening the door for him.

She gazed over at a large wooden box beside the fireplace where a monitor basilisk lay with its head on the edge, an eye patch over one eye while a curious yellow crystal eye stared at them from the other side.

"Rasputin, go tell Severus I won't be joining him for lunch, I have company," she said, kicking the box slightly when he didn't move right away. "Go on, you lazy thing, and don't scare the students." Rasputin reluctantly slipped out of his warm spot and slowly trudged out of the room, looking none too pleased about having been woken up.

"Nice painting," Ederick said, looking at the large seascape that hung on the wall. A delicate sea breeze and the sound of the waves and gulls could be heard coming from it.

"Thanks, it's a Francis Pyther," Jennifer said, popping out the trays. Within moments it was filled with sandwiches, small salads, and a choice of cool drinks, which Ederick accepted one, thanking her politely. "So what do you want, Ederick? I gather this isn't a social visit, or else you'd be seeking less hostile companionship."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Ederick chuckled. "Actually, it's about Cornelius Fudge. You see, someone broke into his house last night and I was wondering if you had any ideas who might have done it?"

"Someone broke into his house?" Jennifer repeated curiously.

"Well, so he says. There wasn't any sign of forced entry or anything of the sort, but his house wassn't completely sealed against visitors, either. We did find traces of Fairynip in the cupboard where his House Elves were. Apparently they had been drugged so not to give any clue as to who did it. Fudge recognized it at once and alerted us. Strangely enough, nothing else seemed out of place, and he didn't think anything was missing."

"What makes you think the Elves just didn't get into some and have a drop too many?" Jennifer inquired. "It's quite a common mixture, you know. You can buy the stuff anywhere."

"A hunch, perhaps," Ederick admitted, watching her carefully while rolling his glass in his hands. "Fudge has gotten quite paranoid, even more than when he was with the Ministry, and he's quite convinced that someone is out to kill him. Considering that nothing was taken from the house, I can't help but wonder about it. I think it's possible that someone might have that motive for breaking in, but if so, why didn't they take anything? Were they just looking for something and couldn't find it, or perhaps they simply couldn't get to it?"

"How would I know?" Jennifer asked impatiently. "Fudge has many enemies, and I'm quite sure from what I know about him that he's probably acquired all sorts of trinkets he shouldn't have over the years."

"Such as when Fudge was arrested over the summer, when he had an illegal item that belonged to your family…"

"Which was destroyed," Jennifer reminded him.

"Which he got out of the Craw vault before it was given over to you," Ederick concluded. "Are there any other items that he has from the vault?" he asked.

"That I know of for certain? Only the Queen's Ladle, which the Ministry has yet to find despite promises that they would recover it," Jennifer replied.

"What about things you don't know of for certain?" Ederick asked. Jennifer glanced up and Ederick turned to see Severus leaning on the door with his arms folded, a dangerous flash in his eyes.

"I thought you had a guest, Jennifer, but it appears you have a pest problem instead," Severus commented, glaring at Ederick. "If you're here to accuse my wife of anything, please do so and stop dancing about, so I don't have to delay throwing you out any longer than necessary."

Ederick stood up guardedly, but nodded politely to him.

"And might I ask where you were last evening, Professor?" Ederick inquired.

"Visiting my brother-in-law, not that it's any of your business," Severus snapped. "Don't you have anything better to do than be sent on wild goose chases by ex-bosses, who somehow arrange to get away with their crimes with a Mysteries pardon? Just what sort of undercover work involves stealing priceless artifacts? Or perhaps the Staff of Eyre was just given to him, and wasn't actually stolen at all?"

"I'm not privy to everything that goes on in the Ministry of Mysteries, Snape, you'll have to take that up with them," Ederick replied.

Ederick then noticed Jennifer watching him carefully and turned the other way, grabbing his coat.

"Another case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing," Severus said critically. "Before you start looking outward for a cause, I suggest you pay closer attention to what's eating the Ministry from within." Ederick turned to Severus as he stepped over to the door, his face showing his open dislike for the professor.

"For your information, the Ministry is stronger now than it ever has been," Ederick said proudly.

"Forgive me, Thurspire, but that is not saying much," Severus said dryly. "As for Fudge, he obviously has, or thinks he has, a lot of enemies. But if I were him, or if I were you, for that matter, it'd be his friends I'd worry about. Most of his enemies wouldn't waste the effort on the bumbling fool."

"I don't think Fudge is the bumbling fool you seem to believe he is, Severus. But then, neither am I," Ederick said in the same dry tone. "If you keep underestimating your adversaries, sooner or later you're going to find yourself up a creek. Or a river," Ederick added, nodding to them. "Have a good afternoon," he said to Jennifer as he left. Severus followed him to make sure he actually did leave and then went back into her office and closed the door.

"You were visiting your brother-in-law?" Jennifer repeated with obvious skepticism.

"Yes, I had to borrow something from Harry, and I knew he sometimes left the chest of his cloak there," Severus said. But Jennifer wasn't about to let him go without looking at her, gazing into his eyes for a long time before shaking her head at him.

"What am I going to do with you?" she sighed. "You could have gotten caught."

"Not likely," Severus snorted softly. "It actually was the safest way of searching for the journals without tipping off what we were searching for. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be there. But I have Sirius searching the old auction files to see if he can find a clue for us. Hopefully, he'll have better luck."