Chapter 8 The Mud Bath.
(Gringotts)
"I asked the two of you here because I believe we have a major problem." Raveark said. "Five days ago an acquaintance of mine came to me for some help in an ongoing investigating he is conducting. He asked me to look into any activities associated with the family accounts of Benjy Fenwick, James Potter, Gideon Prewett and Dorcas Meadowes. As you may know these four were killed the last time The Dark Lord was active. What you may not know is that none of these four left an heir to their family vaults except for James Potter and of course his heir is missing and I presume dead. All four of these people were members of the Order of the Phoenix when they died but the most curious thing about the four is that they all appointed Albus Dumbledore as the executive of their wills and all four named him their financial advisors, something I find most strange because he is not trained to advise people on how to invest their wealth. Mr. Dumbledore has been investing money from all four accounts in a company called Ol'Dentsa for years. This company has never shown a profit, it has never come out with a product and it has never put out a stock report. I suspect it is a front for something else although at this time I have no idea for what."
Amelia Bones narrowed her eyes as she looked at the goblin. "What exactly are you saying here? Are you accusing Albus Dumbledore of something illegal? "
"What I am saying is that something is going on and although I cannot say it is illegal it is definitely shady and unconventional. As to weather Mr. Dumbledore is responsible…The two of you know him much better than I do. Is he subject to foolishness? Does he act irresponsible? Does he lack basic math skills? Does he take advice from questionable sources?" Raveark asked.
Mrs. Bones looked pensive then shook her head. "I have never known him to be any of those things. The man is exceedingly clever. He strikes me as the type to have plots within plots. What exactly is it that you want us to do for you?" She glanced over at the younger red headed man.
Bill Weasley had not yet added anything to the conversation. He just sat there and listened to his boss and Mrs. Bones talk.
Raveark opened a file on his desk and removed a folder which he opened. Running his finger down a list he turned to Madam Bones and said. "My acquaintance would like you to find any information you can on the Werewolf control policy. A breakdown of the laws governing the policy and the dates each law was passed. He would also like you to get a list of the members of the counsel that worked on the policy. In addition he would like you to research the kill laws that are in place for dangerous sentient creatures."
"Most of this information is open to the public. Why doesn't he do his own research?" Amelia asked.
Raveark gave her a toothy grin." You have said it yourself. 'Most' something is going on as I said before. We believe that Mr. Dumbledore is either the victim of some nefarious plot or he is the perpetrator of the same plot. Will you help us find the truth Madam Bones?"
"Before I give you my answer I need to know what you want Mr. Weasley to do." She answered him.
"Ahh, his assignment is fairly easy and is keeping within his currant line of work." Bill raised his eyebrows at that. "We need you to check as many members of the Order that you can for jinxes, hexes, curses, wards and spells." Raveark explained.
Amelia nodded her head. "I understand that. We need to know if someone is controlling the order through magic and against the wishes of the members. If Bill agrees to help you then I will too."
Bill asked Raveark, "Do you think someone has infiltrated the order?"
"Now that is the question isn't it?" he answered.
Bill nodded his head. "I agree to help; we need to know what's going on here."
The three conspirators agreed to meet in two weeks to discuss what they had discovered. Raveark assured the two that when they next met the man who had started this investigation would attend the meeting and with that he wished them good afternoon and good luck as he showed them to the floo.
After the two had left the door behind the fireplace opened and a person, robed with a deep hood that hid his face from view stepped into the room. "Did you check them for auras? He asked.
"I did and they were both clean as you thought they would be. What I would like to know is how you knew they would be." Raveark said.
"The Weasley boy works here. It would be dangerous to spell him. To easy to get caught. It's much simpler to keep him out of important Order business then explain why a top curse breaker for Gringotts is spelled and as for Madam Bones…Although he would love to have her she is head of the Magical Law Enforcement Division. Another one who would be to chancy to spell. It's to our advantage that they are both moralistic and honest." The man explained.
"Well, your insights were correct. Do you want me to repower your misdirection shield? It's been used several times recently and you need it kept up to full strength especially with the company you tend to keep." Raveark said.
"Yes, please do. As you said, it would not do to have my misdirection shield weak, not when I stand between two devils." The man said.
(The Compound)
Shadow, Tracy, Silver and Fire entered the great hall just in time to be sprayed with a combination of mud, water, what was once a Dumb Cane plant and pottery shards. Shadow and Silver knew what had happened right away and started looking around for the guilty party or parties only to find Tide with one of her hands over her mouth trying hard not to laugh and the other hand picking pieces of the aforementioned mess out of her hair. Ice just stood there covered with the same mess clutching a staff and looking shocked.
"Umm, Ice? It's customary to stop watering the plants before the whole thing explodes, you know?" Silver chided gently. "Is everyone alright?"
"Only till Asia finds out that he exploded one of her favorite plants." Shadow muttered softly so that only Silver heard him.
Silver cast Shadow a quick grin before asking again if everyone was ok. Ice shook his head as if waking up from a nightmare only to find out that it had followed him from his sleep. "Holy shit. Asia's gonna kill me. Quick, help me clean this mess up before an adult finds out what happened here."
Tracy laughed "To late Ice. If you want to keep something like this a secret then you better not do it in front of an adult don't you think? You lot clean up the mess. Ice ask Shadow for a lesson in control before you try to water any more of Asia's plants. I'm gonna take a shower. If anyone's cut get your butt up to LeAnn. Trust me, you don't want her to find out one of you are hurt without you telling her." With these last words of wisdom Tracy left the hall to shower before dinner.
Shadow looked over the teens then ordered Ice and Tide to get to LeAnn. "Mom will take care of those cuts you two have. Don't worry, none of them are serious."
"She won't give us that cream she used on me when I first got here will she?" Ice asked.
"Not for little nicks and scratches she won't. She used it on you when you first got here cause you were covered with cuts. Some of them were real bad and she didn't want them to scar. It's worse when you have to drink it in potion form. It makes you sick to your stomach and run a fever. When I first got here I had to drink the potion form and was sick for about a week before it healed up all of my scars." Shadow said.
"Why did she make you drink it? Scars don't hurt. They just look ugly." Ice asked.
Fire shuddered, "You didn't see him Ice. As bad as your father was to you Shadows parents were worse. He had burn marks all over his face like someone had thrown hot oil at him. He also had the words Die Freak carved into his chest. His back was a mess of scars from being whipped and although he was potty trained he had a diaper rash from hell." Tears were running down Fires face as she spoke. She went over and almost climbed into Shadows arms as he patted her back in a comforting way. "I was only four at the time but I still remember that you didn't cry the whole time you were being healed. Oh Shadow, you were such a brave little baby." She sobbed.
"Shhh its ok, its ok. Please don't cry anymore. Mom fixed me up. Shhh, shhh you cried for me so I didn't have to. Please little sister, it's ok now. I'm here and no one will hurt me anymore." Shadow rocked his sister as he hugged her with one arm and rubbed her back in a comforting manor.
As Fire slowly cried herself out Ice quietly said to Silver, "I thought Fire was older. Why did he call her little sister?" Ice looked very subdued as he watched the two teens he had come to care for as a brother and sister.
"He's called her that since he got taller than she is. Told her the day he realized it that he always wanted another little sister. It use to get her all riled up but now it's sorta like a pet name." Silver explained.
"She cried for me too when I got here." Ice said.
"She cried for all of us when we got here." Silver said "Father says it's because she has an over emotional mother that passed on to much of her DNA to her." Silver looked around the hall, "Come on guys, lets get this mess cleaned up before Father gets here. I know mom will tell him after she gets out of the shower. After we're done the two of you better go see Mother or my mom will scalp us." He told Ice and Tide.
Shadow who had finally gotten Fire calmed down ducked the slap she aimed at the back of his head and laughed when he head his sister mutter, "I may be little but I'm older. You two go now. The rest of us can clean up the mess right Shadow?"
"Yes revered eldest sister, whatever you say eldest sister, we live to follow you in your wisdom gained from having lived to such an exalted and elevated age of 15 eldest sister." Shadow teased. "Shrimp" he whispered in her ear.
All five teens laughed at Shadows antics as Tide grabbed Ice's arm and rushed him out of the hall. "Let's go get healed before Mother comes…."
After the two teens ran off Shadow grabbed the staff that Ice had dropped and with a quick sweep of the staff had most of the mess gone. "Wish I could fix Asia's plant. We can buy her a new one when we go to town on Sunday or better yet have Ice and Tide buy her a new one." He said.
Silver reached over and grabbed the staff from Shadows hand and did his own wave clearing up the rest of the mess. "Sloppy work Shadow."
"I know but I never used that staff. It's got a great core for water elementals and that was never my primary one so we don't get along to well. Hey, I think I figured out the spell that Mr. Snape used on us last Friday. It can be adapted for clothes. I'm gonna try it out on dad tomorrow during our free day. If I'm sneaky enough it'll take him most of Saturday to figure out what I did. I think it'll be cool for him to run around in hot pink clothes all day and it will make him dead easy to find if we can talk him into playing Seeker and Hidden with us."
Silver laughed at the mental image that Shadow had created. "I think if you charm Fathers clothes hot pink he'll figure out real quick who the culprit was and your gonna be the ONLY hidden he'll try to find and he can still beat your butt at physical combat."
The two boys laughed and Fire asked, "Did you really figure out the spell Shadow cause if you did then you can charm all of our hair neon again for Sunday."
"Now that would be cool. We could do it every weekend till Mr. Snape comes back. Dad will think it something he did when he was here last. Dad will go ballistic on him…" Shadow said.
(Riddle Manor)
"Severus, I am glad to see you back. Was your hunt successful?" Voldermort asked.
"To the extent that I have eliminated several places where the brat is not thus narrowing down the areas left to search then yes it was successful. I was also able to convince Chandos Kane to not return to the Order to offer his assistance." Snape told his lord a little bit smugly.
"Excellent work Severus," Voldermort glared around at the rest of his followers "This is the type of dedication I demand from all of you. Severus goes beyond his assigned duties to rob Dumbledore of a loyal follower as he searches for the Potter child." His eyes settled on Malfoy. "What do you have to report my pet?"
"Master, I have been checking ministry records for any news of Potter" he said as he shifted uncomfortably.
"And have you found any news my pet or do you bring me empty words again."
I have found that he was not placed within a wizarding family here in Brittan Master." Malfoy hopped this would be good enough to satisfy his master. He also hoped desperately that his master would not use legilimency on him because truthfully what he had mostly done for the entire week was lie in bed on his belly trying to escape from the pain of the lash marks on his back and legs. He was desperately afraid that he would not live through another session with the whip and he dared not use magic to heal the lashes because if his master checked and they were not healing naturally then they would only be reapplied and worse than before.
Luscius had his head lowered and was trying desperately not to squirm from the pain of his robe rubbing against the scabs on his back when he felt his head lifted gently by his master's hand under his chin. "You assure me that he is not placed here in Brittan? Did you not think that perhaps they would use a glamour and a false name? Have you started to physically check any children of around the same age who were placed for glamours and false names? How difficult do you think it would be to age the child on paper a year, change him to blonde and rename him Sam." As Voldermort was speaking his hand was slowly tightening on Malfoys chin till he was actually causing the man some severe discomfort. "What you are telling me is that my pet has not done his job to my satisfaction… again." By this time Malfoy had tears running down his face from the pain and fear. Voldermort released him and told him, "I will be thinking on a suitable punishment for you since the last one was so ineffective. Does anyone else have any progress to report?"
No one said anything. No one raised their eyes to their master. "Avada- Kadavera" and Crabby fell over on his side dead. "Knott, take this worm's body back to his family. Thus is the price for failure. Pet strip."
After giving that command he conjured shackles suspended from the ceiling. They were spaced far enough apart and high enough that the one chained would have his arms spread apart and he would have to stand on his toes. Malfoy was crying openly now as he removed his robes. When he was naked Voldermort told Snape to make sure that his 'Pet' did not die from his punishment. He then ordered four others to administer punishment to his pet. With that he went and sat on his chair to watch the show. "Make sure he screams. It will reinforce this lesson."