The Mad Hatter Case Files
Introduction: Russian Takeout
It happened quite a while ago. I was just poring over some loose files from many years past. Just needed something to think about before I headed back to my empty, cold, and desolate apartment. I didn't want to go back to Mum and Dad's house – I didn't want to see their googly-ga ga love towards each other. I already spent around seventeen years seeing it; I didn't want to torture myself even more with seeing it again when I didn't have to.
So, I stood up from my desk and realized that amidst from the files and papers that had been building up some two months ago, there was a specific case that was typed in bold. It read: The Mad Hatter Case.
Interesting, I thought.
I remembered my parents telling me of a story about the Mad Hatter – some kind of deranged bloke that had killed quite a number of people in Hogwarts while my parents went there. The Mad Hatter had gone back for quite a few centuries, declaring that it's power was far more destructive than that of the now Defeated Dark Lord Voldemort.
Harry Potter is my unrelated uncle. He's pretty cool, though, he won't talk about anything in his past about Hogwarts. Also, Ron Weasley is my other unrelated uncle. Sometimes I get the feeling that he doesn't like my father all that much, but whenever I see Harry, Ron, and Mum, they seem pretty fine. I remember Mum telling me that they were the greatest of friends.
Dad likes to refer to them as the Golden-Trio-that-was-annoying-as-all-hell.
Anyway, I stood up and I realized that there was a window in my office (I'd practically forgotten about it), and I walked around the desk, turned the knob, and stepped out. Goodness, it was pretty bright outside my dingy little office. I walked up to Gracie Collins.
"Hey, Gracie. How's the night going?" I walked over to the coffee machine, willing myself not to look at the computer screen.
"Amazingly slow this time, Lara. I can barely believe it. We haven't had a call yet for maybe twenty minutes! At this rate…" Gracie's voice trailed. I sneaked a glance at the computer. Just as I figured it was another ad for male strippers.
"Don't you think that the company is going to find out about this?"
"Find out about what? It's not like I'm doing anything illegal. Besides, I have a reason for it – let's just say that someone is getting married soon."
I looked at her suspiciously as she grinned wickedly at me. I inconspicuously checked her left hand (finding no ring) and raised an eyebrow. I shook my head and asked her, "I need you to help me with something.
"I was searching through the papers on my desk, and there was a specific case that stood out. It read the Mad Hatter Files and I was wondering if we still have those." I sipped the coffee. "They're still in the backroom, correct?"
"Of course they're in the backroom. Where else would they be?"
"Right. I knew that. I was just…checking."
"Lara," Gracie spoke before I reached the back door, "the Mad Hatter case happened almost twenty years ago. I think everything would be stale on that case."
I stopped in my tracks, my hand hovering over the silver knob of the door that read, Previous Case Files.
"I thought the case was solved?" I inquired.
"No. The case was dropped because Mr. Potter asked for the case to cease. He didn't want the investigations to continue."
"Mr. Harry Potter?"
"None other. Does that surprise you?"
I turned the knob and walked into the secluded room. "No. Of course not. Why should it?"
**
Mum never told me that Harry Potter was the one that had issued for the backing off of the case. In fact, Harry hardly ever talked about his past. He always regarded Hogwarts as some of the best years of his life.
I strode over to the file cabinet that held all the cases. I opened the right cabinet with the files from twenty years before and flicked my finger over each title.
Draco Malfoy and Lucius
Malfoy…
The Malfoy Manor and Inheritance…
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets…
Harry Potter and the Dark Lord…
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone…
Harry Potter and Sirius Black…
Harry Potter and the Mad Hatter…
Harry Potter and the –
Wait, I almost passed it. It was a pretty thick file, I noted under my hands, and as I peeked inside I noticed quite a few transcripts. Tucking the file under my arm, I walked out of the backroom, produced a little head nod to the perplexed Gracie, grabbed myself another coffee with some Russian takeout, and placed the file down on the desk.
I shoved all the other papers off my desk, twisting the lamp to fall only on the file. I opened up the plain manila envelope, the musky scent of the aging papers filling my nose. Some transcripts appeared on the front page, but not before I read the names of the students that had been questioned.
The Mad Hatter Case
Opened: May 25, 1997
Hermione Granger
Draco Malfoy
Harry Potter
Ronald Weasley
Lydia Mako
The first disk was my mother. Let's hear about this, Mum.
I leaned back, and tapped the transcript with my wand. Her image appeared along with her voice. So, this is what my mother looked like when she was seventeen. She looked nervous. Her hair was…well, it certainly was frizz central. But those are the same chocolate eyes, the same nervous movements, the same…ring on her finger?
"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger…"
I was definitely in for the ride of my life.
* * * *
Disclaimer: It should be really great to own Harry Potter but…well, what do I know? I'm only hypothesizing.
AN: Aloha kids! So, what do you think? It's just something different. It's also going to be a story of mine that will be updated every single week – Fridays. I promise. But you guys can't complain of the length of the story. It's definitely going to be centered on a Draco/Hermione/Ron love triangle, and I just threw Harry and Lydia in there…cause well, what's a Harry Potter story without Harry Potter?
Oh, yes, and the dates. Well, I made it so that the current year right now where Lara Malfoy is living in right now is the year 2020.
I hope you guys enjoy. Even if no one reviews this.