Harry Potter and all related ideas belong to J.K. Rowling, who, it was announced today, is the richest person in Britain. That's definitely not me, but a girl can dream……
This Chapter wrote itself very smoothly, which is good because it took my mind off of the conditions in my apartment. With the amount of rent I pay they really ought to provide me with my own tanned, oiled, shirtless cabana boy to stand over me with a fan and a frozen margarita, but failing that, they could at least TURN OFF THE HEAT when it's 80+ degrees.
Three cheers for toomanycurls who told me to save things in html format to make them appear properly!!
Chapter 11- A Death in Diagon Alley
Weeks passed, with no word from Dumbledore, not a whisper of The Order. They went about their lives as usual, going to work, going home, eating, sleeping, trying to keep up the appearance of normalcy. Nothing had changed except that every now and then Lily would catch the eye of Frank or Alice or Gideon with a sort of different significance, they were all in on the same secret.
It was not hard to go on as usual, because nothing had changed in the workings of the Ministry. They still spent their time at paperwork and investigating supposed sightings of Voldemort, always the unlikely sort of sightings where some witch or wizard swore they saw him on the Knight Bus, or in a muggle record store, or just outside Buckingham Palace.
As they waited for some news, for something, it slipped into summer. It got hot, uncomfortably so in London, children came home on school holidays, and the days got longer, staying light until easily eight or nine in the evenings. It was becoming regular for members of the Order who lived in London to be constantly at James and Lily's house in Godric's Hollow on these long warm evenings. There was little chance of them being overheard there, either by muggles or other witches and wizards, so they could speak freely. And though so far there was nothing they needed to speak secretly about, it let them vent their frustrations about not doing anything.
"Dumbledore might at least keep us informed." James said irritably one evening, when they had all agreed that yet again they had heard nothing from the old headmaster.
"Well, you know what I think Dumbledore ought to do James?" Alice said from across the table. "Make up a memo of all his plans in great detail, and then make up thousands of leaflets, fly over London, and drop them all. Oh, and maybe send a copy to the Daily Prophet as well."
She smiled sweetly at him, while everyone else snickered. Morgan gave Alice an appreciative look; it was the sort of thing she'd had said if Alice hadn't beaten her to it.
"You used to be sweet Alice. Look what being married to Frank has done to you." James shook his head, making a "tsk tsk" sound.
"As I recall Lily used to be rather sweet too until you corrupted her. She was even a prefect, as I recall." Frank remarked.
"Yeah, that almost made me reconsider asking her to go out with me." James mused. "Who wants to date a prefect?"
"Asking her to go out with you?" Sirius snorted. "Try "begging". Pathetically. For two years. And even then I think she only went out with you to shut you up. In fact, maybe that's why she married you."
"Of course not." She replied, smiling fondly at James. "I married him for his money."
The wisecracking died down, and Remus spoke logically.
"Just because we're not hearing from Dumbledore doesn't mean he's not doing anything James. It could be other things going on we're not involved in. Obviously he wouldn't want us to know."
"Why not? Why not keep us informed? So we could help if need be."
"You can't be forced to tell what you don't know." Gideon said ominously.
******
Sirius was in Diagon Alley and using all his willpower to act his age and not join the throng of little boys pressing their faces against the glass of Quality Quidditch Supplies when he noted two women walking a little way ahead of him. He immediately recognized the long red curls of his best friend's wife, but he did not know who the woman with dark brown shoulder length hair walking with her was. At least not from the back, although he had to admit from the back was a very nice view of her. He wondered who she was, and why he did not know her. There was only one way to find out.
"Oy! Lily!"
She turned, and so did her companion. He nearly stopped dead in the street, because when she turned, he did know her. Juliet Mason looked remarkably healthy for someone who had just recently been released from the hospital. He wondered, as he greeted them, how he had never before noticed how attractive she was. Then he remembered, she had been married. As much as he enjoyed female company, he considered married women strictly off limits. Of course, he thought, she's not married anymore. Wait a minute, she's been widowed less than a month, you sick bastard!
Lily was prattling on about the weather and mutual acquaintances, apparently unsure of what to do while Sirius was distracted by leering at, and then mentally beating himself up for the inappropriateness of leering at, Robert Mason's widow. He shook himself out of his thoughts.
"And so what brings you two ladies to Diagon Alley?"
They exchanged a look, apparently Lily had already said this while he was thinking about how he shouldn't be thinking about how hot Juliet was.
"We have been shopping." She said slowly, and clearly, as though she was speaking to someone who didn't speak English well.
"Oh good thinking, only eight shopping months left until my birthday."
"You would be an Aries." Replied Juliet in a cheeky voice.
"You know, if I had paid attention in divination I might be insulted by that comment, but as I didn't, I'm going to assume it was a compliment."
He grinned at her, and sensed, rather than saw, a rather disapproving look from Lily, but before he could say anything else, someone ran into him hard from behind, and he stumbled forward into the two women.
"Watch where you're going!" He snapped, straightening up and turning to glare at….himself?
"Oh, sorr--- You!"
No, not himself, but someone who had always looked eerily similar, someone he had not seen for years, which was as he preferred it.
"Regulus." Normally if he met his brother on the street he'd ignore him, but as he had just barreled into him, it was impossible to pretend they hadn't seen each other. Lily and Juliet looked at him with interest. They knew Sirius had a brother, but he had not gone to Hogwart's, because after sending Sirius there their parents had decided they disapproved of both Dumbledore and the curriculum.
"You must be Sirius's brother." Lily said, always polite despite the way the two of them were glaring at each other murderously, "Nice to meet you. I'm Lily Potter, this is Juliet Mason."
"Still hanging about with mudbloods I see." He remarked, looking disgusted, ignoring the hand Lily offered.
Sirius reached for his wand. "Watch yourself Regulus. You'd better apologize to these ladies for calling nasty names, before I teach you a lesson about manners."
"The only lesson I ever learned from you was how to be an embarrassment to your name and family, and I'd rather not, thank you. If you'll excuse me I have things to do and I'd rather not be seen associating with this kind of filth."
He disapparated, and left Sirius holding his wand and seething.
"That's your brother?" Juliet asked hesitantly, after a moment.
"Not as far as I'm concerned." Growled Sirius, replacing his wand in his pocket.
******
Lily had planned to meet James in the Leaky Cauldron after shopping, and she allowed Sirius to wait with her despite being annoyed with him for leering like a pervert at poor Juliet. Juliet had taken leave declaring she was tired, not surprising since she had only just been released from the hospital and was not completely well yet. Lily was making a point to try and invite her out sometimes, she could only imagine it must seem very lonely in their house now that Rob was gone.
Sirius was unusually quiet, she guessed because of their meeting with Regulus. She wondered if she ought to try to ask him about his family but then decided not. James had always been better at talking to Sirius anyway, and she imagined if he needed to talk he would go to Morgan, as she was in a similar situation.
Considering his foul mood, she was glad when James showed up, late, panting apologetically, something about "Gideon" and "quidditch". She couldn't tell if he had been playing quidditch with Gideon or fighting with Gideon over quidditch, but didn't much care.
He seemed a little surprised to see Sirius with her, but fine with it.
"Are we going to have dinner then? I'm famished, what will we-"
He was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream from the direction of Diagon Alley. They all exchanged a look, and the hurried out the back of the pub and through the arch into the street full of shops, where a small crowd was gathering around the apothecary shop. James tried to push his way through to see what the problem was. People around were muttering to one another.
"You-know-who, did she say…?"
"That's what she said. Absolutely barking, he wouldn't be here in Diagon Alley…"
James pushed harder. "I say, let us through, we're Aurors-"
Pushing past a tall man in lurid yellow robes, Lily saw that everyone was gathering around a man who was lying in the street, sprawled on his back, his eyes wide and staring-- clearly dead. A woman was standing over him, her hands clamped over her mouth, screaming.
"Someone call a healer." Lily said, knowing it was useless, he was dead, there was nothing that could be done.
"What happened here?" The surrounding crowd shook their heads, unsure. James turned to the screaming woman. "Ma'am? Ma'am, you need to tell me what happened here! Ma'am!" He took her by the shoulders, wondering if he was going to have to slap her to get her attention.
"You-know-who!" She shrieked. "He was here! He cursed my husband and then he disapparated! He's dead, Oh Merlin, he's DEAD!"
"Make way, make way there! Let us through!"
Two young uniform officers from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad were pushing through the crowd, and James took Lily's elbow and drew her back into the crowd, trying to disappear. "The Ministry is here." He whispered. "Let's not draw attention to ourselves."
They slipped back through the crowd, and hurried back to the Leaky Cauldron, whispering hurriedly to Sirius what the woman had said about Voldemort attacking her husband.
"We have to contact Dumbledore." James added as he stepped into the fire. When Lily and Sirius had also emerged from the fireplace back at Godric's Hollow, James went on as though he had not been interrupted. "He needs to know that she thought it was Voldemort, even if it wasn't."
"I think he's beaten you to it again mate." Sirius pointed to the window, where an owl was tapping on the glass, trying to get in.
******
Minutes later they found themselves in the Headmaster's office at a strangely quiet and deserted Hogwart's. Other members of the Order arrived shortly, since it was a Sunday afternoon, many of them had been in Diagon Alley shopping or socializing and heard about the commotion. None of them had actually seen Voldemort, but they had all heard the woman's claim that he was the one who had cursed her husband.
"A man was killed in Diagon Alley this afternoon." Said Dumbledore shortly. "The only witness, his wife, says he died from the Avada Kedavra curse from Voldemort. While the Ministry is running around trying to control the situation, I sent Alastor to question the woman, and he believes she is quite right that it was Voldemort who attacked the man."
There was a tense silence in the Headmaster's office until Gideon spoke.
"I think Crouch intends to cover it up again. Already the buzz over at the Prophet is that the woman was mad, it wasn't him at all. All I was able to find was that the poor man's name was Gavin Claremont."
"Dr. Claremont?" They all looked at Morgan in surprise.
"Do you know him?"
She shook her head. "No, but I've heard of him. He works with Taylor Griffin."
This apparently meant nothing to the rest of them.
"They do research." She said impatiently. "Experimental charms work, mostly theoretical, very advanced."
"How do you know this guy, this Griffin?"
"He was one of my tutors before I went to Hogwart's."
"Oh, I remember him." Sirius said suddenly. "Tall bald bloke? I remember because he was one of the few tutors to last over two weeks with you. Never liked him though, he told your father I was the one who put that jelly legs hex on you."
"I told my father about that, and I think it might be time to let go of that grudge anyway luv."
Dumbledore interrupted them. "Morgan, do you know this man well?"
She nodded. "Fairly well, we've kept in touch."
"Do you feel comfortable going to him and seeing if he has any information that might help us determine why Voldemort would target his partner?"
"Of course."
"I don't think she should go alone." Remus spoke up. She gave him a look to kill.
"It's Taylor, he'd never do anything to me-"
"I'll go with her then. That way it won't feel like a bunch of Aurors descending on him." Sirius said logically.
Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you, and remember not to let him know anything about the Order, no matter how much you may trust him Morgan."
******
When he stepped out of the fire Morgan was waiting for him, distractedly examining a minute speck of ash on her otherwise perfect robes. Getting dirty was definitely on Morgan's list of top ten least favorite things. He looked around the hallway they had arrived in. It was sterile white, almost as clean as a hospital.
"What is this place?"
"It's a magical research lab. We're a bit outside of Glasgow."
He followed her down a spotless hall. It was eerily quiet. She stopped in front of a door near the end of the hall and knocked. A man's voice said "Yes? Come in."
They stepped into a room that was entirely different from the hallway. It was paneled in dark wood, and smelled distinctly of dust and smoke. One wall was a vast picture window looking out on a wild moor dotted with early heather, but the other walls were lined with bookshelves, from floor to ceiling of large leather bound volumes. When he ran out of shelf space Griffin had apparently just started piling books on the floors, so they towered precariously all around. Sitting on the crowded desk were lots of small, mysterious instruments, and a whole jumble of various wands of different lengths and designs lying on a velvet cloth. Taylor Griffin, a tall, thin, balding man, surveyed them through silver-framed glasses and a haze of pipe smoke. He broke into a wide grin when he recognized Morgan.
"Morgan! Feasgar math! Ciamar a tha sibh?"
"Gle mhath, gle mhath. Ciamar a the sibh fein?"
"Tha gu math-"
"Excuse me?" Said Sirius irritably. "I hate to break up this little meeting of the Scottish Pride Association, but could we use a language everyone has in common? English maybe?"
Morgan sighed. "Taylor, I'm not sure if you remember my cousin?"
"Mr. Black, yes of course. How could I forget the perpetrator of such a well placed jelly legs hex."
Sirius had the grace to look slightly embarrassed.
"So to what do I owe the pleasure Morgan, not that you need a reason to stop by..."
"Well, we heard about Claremont. I'm really sorry Taylor." She began delicately.
He hooked an eyebrow, looking merely curious, not like someone mourning the death of a good friend.
"Heard what about Claremont?"
She and Sirius exchanged a glance. Was it possible that out at this remote lab he had not yet heard?
"You haven't heard?"
"The last I heard from Claremont he was going to London for a few days with his wife. She doesn't like it much out here, too remote."
Morgan took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry Taylor, but he's...Claremont is dead, Taylor."
"He's....what?" He could not have looked more stricken if Morgan had slapped him. "How? What happened?"
"He was killed in Diagon Alley in front of his wife and several witnesses. None of the witnesses can say for sure, but his wife says it was Voldemort."
Morgan crossed the room and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Taylor."
"It's just so sudden." He shook his head in disbelief. "Voldemort? What could he possibly want to kill Gavin for?"
"Well, that's part of what we came to see you about." It was not a sensitive time to ask, but they didn't have time to be sensitive. "Is there anything you can think of that might make Voldemort target him?"
Griffin's head snapped up, his eyes wide behind his glasses, as though he had just remembered something.
"What? What is it?" Pressed Morgan.
"Are you asking in the capacity as an Auror for the Ministry of Magic, or as my former student and a friend?"
"I won't betray anything you say to the Ministry, I'm not here on their behalf."
"Did they find anything on Claremont when he died? Notes of some sort?"
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"He was working on, just as a point of academic interest, not for any use, a way of breaking through the Fidelius Charm."
"I thought that was impossible unless the Secret Keeper chose to give it up?"
"It always has been, but Gavin thought he had a found a way through it. He had nearly figured it out."
"And Voldemort would make great use of that information..."
Taylor nodded. "Yes, the Fidelius Charm is often the last hope for keeping a secret."
_____________________________________________________________
Taylor Griffin is the name of a real person, and I'm not sure of that's allowed, but you can't copyright a name, and it is very very (extremely) doubtful the man I know reads Harry Potter fan fiction. I only used the name because I mentioned it once in passing and my friend said "that sounds like a Harry Potter name".
Also, Morgan and Taylor's conversation in Gaelic is just a general "how are you, fine thanks, etc." exchange. I just like to give Sirius opportunities to make snarky comments.