Sirius felt hugely relieved when he heard at last the key turning in the lock of Hermione's small flat. They had chosen to stay here for the moment, as it was cosy and well hidden by Hermione's wichcraft.
"How did it go ?" Sirius asked as Hermione entered the room. She still looked like Lavinia Rosier, but the aged woman's feature had begun to blur, the wrinkles to smooth, and her hair were back to the rich brown Sirius liked so much.
"Perfectly well", replied Hermione, smiling brightly.
It had been Hermione's idea, of course, to go with Sirius at the meeting, but undercover. And as he couldn't talk her out of it, Sirius had suggested that she took the appearance of Lavinia, who, apart from being one of the main shareholders, was an insignificant old woman to whom, as far as he remembered, no one had ever paid much attention.
It had not been too difficult to obtain some of Lavinia's hair, as Poppy, the Rosier house elf, dreamt of freedom as much as Dobby had and was ready to do anything to help the founder of the Elfish Welfare. She had even mimic Lavinia's mannerisms and way of speaking for Hermione. And she had slipped a sleeping potion in the old woman's drink in order to make her sleep far past the hour of the meeting. In fact, the most difficult for Hermione had been to convince her husband to let her go : he had battled against that plan until the last moment.
"I still don't understand what came into me to let you do such a dangerous thing", he grumbled.
"Because I didn't give you a choice", replied Hermione cheerfully. And then she added, not smiling anymore: "We do this together, Sirius, you promised me you wouldn't go on your own".
"I know I did", he sighed, "but I was so afraid you'd find yourself exposed !"
"There was no risk of that", she laughed, "they were far too busy ranting against you, Druella shrieking that you were indeed the worst disgrace the Black family ever suffered, Hector swearing he would wipe that insolent smile off your face… Only Marcus remained calm, and said with a smirk that you were still as big a fool as you ever were, for instead of hiding your suspicions, you had exposed everything you'd learnt, and so they could make sure you would never discover anything else. If they had known ! Then they started making plans in front of me, and I learnt a lot. You were right about everything – the smuggling, the elves-traffic, the hidden mine… And you'll never guess who is the Secret keeper for that mine. Lavinia herself !"
"What ? Why would they have chosen her ? She's never had any responsibility in the company. They only made her come to that reunion because I expressly asked to see all the main shareholders".
"If you think of it, it makes sense, in a way". She hesitated a bit, for she knew what she was about to say would bring forward a painful, ever present memory in Sirius' mind, then she added :
"Just as Pettigrew was chosen as Jame's Secret keeper because he was the less obvious choice, so they chose Lavinia because no one ever pay attention to her".
Sirius nodded somberly. He seemed deep in thoughts, and Hermione was about to make mocking comments about Druella to distract him from his brooding, when he said suddenly :
"I remember you suggested, once, that Peter's hero worship for James was dangerous. Did you mean that, deep down, he somehow resented James in fact ?"
Hermione hesitated, not wanting to add to the burden of guilt and sorrow that would never be completely lifted from Sirius' heart, but they weren't used to tell each other anything else but the truth.
"I think deep down he did, my love", she said sadly. "Just think of what it was like for him. Being always with James, you, and Remus, some of Hogwarths most brillant and admired students, without being in the least at the same level. He must have felt like the third wheel. The insignificant sidekick. And he was. Being the mean, egotistical individual he was, under his shy demeanour, he began to resent you all.
"And yet, James always defended him, even against me when I was tempted to make fun of him"
"And maybe, because James defended him, Pettigrew resented him all the more. What he wanted, deep down, was to be as talented, as admired as he was, and he knew would never be. He was mad with jealousy."
"Lavinia, too, has always been jealous of Druella. And far from being kind to her, the old hag has bullied her sister all her life. So I wonder…"
"You wonder if we could turn Lavinia against her sister and the other members of the board, and tell us her Secret ?"
"Maybe. Once I heard my grandmother talk about the sisters with some friend of hers. Apparently Druella and Lavinia were both in love with my uncle Cycnus, but Druella made sure that she was the one he married. Apparently Lavinia never recovered from it. She remained an 'old maid' - as my grandmother said- and stayed with her parents in their country estate until they died".
"And now she isn't even her own mistress in the estate, as Druella lives there half of the year, in spring and summer, according to Poppy…", Hermione added. "Yes, you're right, maybe it could work. But how could we meet her without his sister or anyone of the others knowing it ?"
"Maybe Narcissa would agree to help", replied Sirius.
"Narcissa ? According to Andromeda, she's rather bitter since Lucius has been sent to Azkaban. She also resented Drago being sentenced to two years of community service".
"Well, she might not have objected that much if he hadn't been assigned to the section for injured muggles of the department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. And yet, what better place to learn what damage the likes of his father do ?"
"If having her son nearly killed by his association with Voldemort didn't rid her of her prejudices, what could be her incentive for helping us ?"
"A reduction of sentence for Lucius, maybe. And besides, she doesn't like the new regime, but she likes even less those who got away with their association with Voldemort because of a lack of evidence, like Marcus or Druella. We'd have to discuss all this with Harry and Shacklebolt, but it would be worth a try. And if she made an attempt to deceive us, who could be best at finding it out in time than you, my brillant legilimens ?"