20. Conversations
Voices…
Murmuring…
Running footsteps slow… then halt.
A woman's voice, "Oh Merlin, he's died hasn't he."
A man responds, "No, Minerva, he's not dead yet."
"We must get him to the infirmary right away, and contact Marcus."
"Madame Pomfrey is on her way, I don't believe Marcus is available presently."
"His condition must be dealt with immediately."
Here there was a pause, then the man repeated, "He's not dead yet."
Bitterly, "I wish we could say the same for poor Geoffrey Dameron. Was it Filch that found him?"
"Yes, dead at least two weeks."
"Has anyone named a suspect?"
"Not that I know of, though Marcus might know differently. An inspector's coming from the Ministry to look into this as quietly as possible."
"Imagine, a professor killed. I had my doubts but it must be one of the faculty." A sigh followed that comment. Harry discovered that despite his desire to awake he could do little but listen. "You've been an Auror for so long Ryan, what do you think is going on around here?"
Silence for a few moments, then, "I thought at first they would try and steal the Staff Draconis, but they seem quite content just to take advantage of it's being broken. I'm not convinced that it's a faculty member though."
"Oh no? What would you propose."
"There's nothing to stop them from apparating into the castle, we've seen it before. Why wouldn't they just apparate in, try an assassination and apparate out?"
"Yes, but whoever it is had to impersonate Geoffrey for two weeks. We told the House Elves what Polyjuice potion is like, they would have noticed and reported anything even remotely close to the amount the impostor would have to prepare to carry off the ruse." Harry was slowly becoming sure that Professor McGonagall was the one who had just spoken but he felt as if he were trying to listen to the conversation while underwater.
"Yes, but by the same token we would have noticed if a faculty member had been missing for two weeks. Let's face it, we all spent time with the fake Dameron, he was in that form all the time. So if he wasn't using Polyjuice potion and not apparating, what was he doing before he disappeared?"
"You're the Auror, you tell me."
"I honestly don't know. I sometimes think that a lot of these tricks have gone beyond me."
"You know Ryan, I never thought I'd say this, but I wonder if you didn't have the right idea back when all you did was shoot them."
Harry lost his feeble grip on awareness and slipped back into darkness.
* * *
Green lights flickered…
Cold water dripped from stones into darkened pools…
"The assassin sends word?"
"Yes my Lord."
An expectant pause. "Well? Don't try my patience, Wormtail!"
"No my Lord, my apologies."
"Stop groveling and give me the news."
"The plan nearly worked, the spell almost fractured."
"Almost? Wormtail, you swore that this plan would not fail, and here you tell me that it almost-"
"But the sliver is closer to his heart than ever! The spell is barely holding and he has been unconscious for days. Surely now the assassin could reveal himself and-"
"No."
"But he's helpless."
"I said no. Our plans are too delicate at this point to risk losing our only insider."
"Then why not send one of our Death Eaters? Surely with the staff disabled-"
"Or perhaps I send you, Wormtail?"
"M-my Lord! I don't b-believe that this task, this duty, such as it were, is one that I-I m-myself would be particularly suited-"
"Useless, sniveling, coward. Crucio!"
Incoherent screaming echoes through the dank chamber.
"Perhaps I should send you to finish the job. But no, I've got to keep my eye on you don't I Wormtail. If I don't keep you near at hand I'm sure you would just slink away. Isn't that right?"
"Never my Lord!" The words melted into screams again.
"No, I think I'll keep my pet rat where I can keep an eye on him." A pensive silence. "The students have gone home, the teachers have nothing better to do than guard Potter. Tell the insider that he's to bide his time till after the holiday."
The screams stopped abruptly and were replaced by panting. "At once… my Lord."
"What of the disguise spell? Has it worn off yet?"
"Yes my Lord."
"Excellent, now attend to our other preparations."
"You mean-"
"You know what I mean Wormtail! Now get out of my sight!"
* * *
"Breaks my 'eart to see 'im that way. Didn't even get to tell him a proper hello. What've you told Ron and Hermione?"
"We've told them the truth, we see little point in deceiving them any further in the matter. However, we've also taken care to impress on them the importance that they speak of this to no one."
"I guess it was lucky this happened over the Holiday Break, fewer people ter ask where 'e's gone."
Harry went through the mental equivalent of blinking a few times in confusion. Hagrid? He struggled to wake up but found he was still unable to do anything more than listen to the faint strains of conversation drifting near his head. Still, he was fairly certain that he had identified the Groundskeeper's voice and that the other was Marcus Sideson.
"Well his teachers know where he is, but I'm sure his House members were wondering where he was the last couple days before break started."
"Do ya think he'll be up for Christmas?"
"That, I'm afraid, will be up to Ryan. He's been monitoring Mr. Potter almost constantly since he found him slumped outside his office. Madame Pomfrey finally convinced him to go get some sleep. I was starting to worry about him, he was looking even grimmer than usual."
"I'll have ter say Professor, beggin' yer pardon, but 'e gives me the creeps."
"I'd imagine that Mr. Argano has that affect on a lot of people. Fifteen years ago, there were people convinced he was just as dangerous as You-Know-Who. The only reason he didn't end up in Azkaban was because he'd done most of the terrible things he did at the request, if no the specific direction, of the Ministry of Magic."
"Well I wouldn't want ter wish Azkaban on no man. Exceptin' of course You-Know-Who."
"Of course. But I assure you Hagrid, Ryan is very much on our side and can be quite well trusted."
"But I'd heard that he shot up the Great Hall."
"Yes, and killed three Death Eaters in the process. You can trust him Hagrid."
"I's just worried about Harry is all."
"I know, we all are. Come on, Ryan will tell us what he thinks when he gets back."
