Chapter Twelve
Mr. Wick
Saturday August 19
Lisa Turpin's summer was starting to improve just as the summer holiday was coming to a close. Her parents were mixed. Her father was a muggleborn, her mother would be classed a half-blood. They had more contact with the nonmagical world but were living in an older magical home that her mother had inherited. Beginning on July 1, they had spent the summer on vacation while their home was being retrofitted with natural gas, plumbing and electricity. The bare minimum work had been completed in six weeks and by any measurement, things were a right mess, but they had hot water, a hot shower, toilet, a working stove, sink and refrigerator, electric lights and outlets throughout the house.
Like the Tonks family, those families that had feet in both worlds were getting by more-or-less normally. In some cases, like the enterprising Creeveys, they had done very well for themselves and were thriving.
Better still, Lisa's parents had just received their wand Purchase Permit cards for September 5.
… - ...
Sunday August 20
It was well after midnight when the moon waned, and full darkness descended. He downed a potion vial. Waiting a minute for it to take effect, he disillusioned himself and moved from his concealment in a small copse of trees across from a rundown limestone manor house. His target had arrived here three hours ago and for the last hour there was no flickering candle light, no movement, no sound from the two story house to indicate someone was awake. The diminutive professor moved silently and slowly so as not to disturb the wildlife; he wanted no interruption in the gentle croaking and chirping that provided the cover for his movements. He ghosted to the back of the house and found one basement casement window open. He cast a charm and it revealed a house elf on a pallet in the corner. He saw the bedraggled and dirty elf stirring and sitting up.
"Who is there? I feel your magics. Show yourself."
He opened a potion vial and spilled it across the window sill. He then cast a strong breeze that carried the potion fumes into the basement. The little elf immediately fell over onto her side.
"She'll be asleep for a few hours," he muttered to himself.
He then climbed through the window and took the stairs to the second floor where his target lay asleep. He cast a charm to verify the target was in the room and spilled more of the potion on the floor at the doorway and one directly across. Creating another gust of wind under each door, he blew the potion into the rooms for a full minute. Opening the first door he walked over to the bed and cast a small lumos over her face. He checked his brass disk, verified it was who he sought, then held her hand and activated a portkey. Predator and prey disappeared in a small silent flash of light.
… - ...
"Wakey, Wakey my dear Michelle," crooned the interrogator as he shot a jet of ice-cold water from his hand into her face.
Michelle Edgecombe's eyes snapped open in terror as the water woke her and she struggled to move but she was securely tied to a chair which was secured to the floor with angle iron. Ropes wound tightly around her arms, legs and torso leaving only her head able to move. She strained to turn her head to see who was behind her.
Walking around to face her the unglamoured Filius Flitwick looked at her with a grim smile. "Time to talk, Michelle. You will cooperate with me or I'll have your daughter Marietta help me." That was actually a bluff but she didn't know it. He would never willingly hurt a child.
Putting on her bravest act, Edgecombe replied, "You don't scare me; where am I?"
"You are in a Goblin cell in a place you can never find or leave until I allow."
"Do you know who I am? Let me go, I'll have the Aurors on you."
Laughing, he Remarked, "Oh I know exactly who and what you are. A coward who preys on those who can't defend themselves. You're in no position to make demands. You're on Goblin soil and are being investigated for crimes against the nation. You will answer my questions and not lie," stated Flitwick.
"I'm a respected member of a ministry department. You are nothing but a teacher. Let me go right now," screeched Michelle. She tried to sound brave but she was scared witless.
Speaking as calmly as he could, Flitwick stated, "Mrs. Edgecombe, most likely you're going to die in the next week. Please recognize that fact, The circumstances of your death and what happens to Marietta afterwards have yet to be determined. Here, open your mouth; I have a serum to help you remember."
He pressed her head back and forced her mouth open. He poured three vials into her mouth and massaged her throat to make her swallow. He waited a minute as her eyes glazed over. He cast a tempus spell and a countdown clock appeared in red letters starting with three hours. Glancing at it, he hoped it was enough time. He could only give the potions once a day.
"What is your name?" asked Flitwick.
"Michelle Edgecombe."
"What position do you have at the Ministry of Magic?"
"I work in the Department of Magical Transportation, responsible for the Floo system."
"When did you join that department?"
"1993."
"Where did you work at before then?"
"Department of Education."
He asked, "Are you a Death Eater?" He didn't know that Riddle and all of the Death Eaters were dead.
"No."
"Did you ever work for the Death Eaters."
"I don't know any Death Eaters."
Somewhat surprised by her response, he asked, "What about people like Lucius Malfoy and Nathan Nott?"
"They were imperiused. They were cleared."
"Do you think pure bloods should rule the magical world?"
She surprised him again by saying, "I've no interest in politics."
"What are you interested in?"
"Gold."
"When you worked in the Education department, what jobs were you paid extra for?"
"From time to time I was given a list of names, told to find their addresses in the muggle world..."
After another twenty minutes of questions he cast, "Obliviate."
… - …
At one that afternoon, Connie Hammer arrived at the Wand Shop to teach the teens apparation. Harry suggested, "We have portkeys that will take us by the front gate at Hogwarts. Hold my arm and we can go there."
At seventy-five, Connie wasn't a fan of portkeys but the ride from Harry's elegant watch was completely smooth, without any of the spinning that made the ministry ones infamous. She'd never used a portkey made by the goblins and was amazed at the difference. She, Moody and Amelia had gone through the ranks together and had always remained friends. As a life-long Investigator, she was a good judge of people and like Daryl, immediately judged that the young man holding her arm was among the most powerful wizards alive; though in his case, it could be force of will rather than simply raw power; she wasn't sure.
"Thanks for the ride," she commented as she noticed Hermione arrive a moment later.
Seeing as they were in the meadow that was bisected by the hard-packed dirt road leading up to the castle from Hogsmeade, they had a clear area to practice. In the late August heat, the field was quite dry.
Ignoring Twycross's three D's speech she began, "Apparition is a bit like the summoning spell; essentially you envision where you want to be and pull yourself there. The simplest version of apparating is the line-of-sight, where you can see where you want to be. You want to be there. Set your Will to make it happen, hold your wand to push your magic and..."
Crack. Harry was fifty feet away.
"...er, right."
crack. He was back standing in front of her. "Excellent analogy, Inspector Hammer."
He walked up to Hermione, nuzzled her ear for a moment before whispering, "Hold your wand, decide where you want to be and give your wand a little twist."
Crack!
That earned him a few kisses. They took a break for a minute and Harry opened the three bottles of Orange Crush that he'd brought along. Connie, who had never tried it, tasted it and thought the cold fizzy beverage was quite refreshing. After they had each tried a few more jumps and finished their bottles, Harry vanished them.
Connie continued, "The second version is the one most commonly used. You're wanting to go someplace that you've been to but it's far enough away that you can't see it. The common example is just to the right of the steps at the Three Broomsticks. Generally, you want to stay within a few miles for the first hundred jumps."
Harry said, "Ladies first."
Crack! She vanished.
crack. He was also gone.
Crack. Connie found them where she expected. She said, "It's always prudent to take a few seconds to verify that everything is where it's supposed to be. In the event that you lose something, go back and get it if you're able and make your way to Healer Pomfrey or St. Mungo's. If you enjoy reading, there's a good book at Flourish and Blotts entitled, Getting There in One Piece. It covers the three advanced methods - side-along, co-ordinate jumping and wandless jumps."
They nodded at her easy-to-follow instructions and advice.
"What questions do you have?"
Harry nodded at his girlfriend who asked,"How do people get quieter?"
"Practice, finesse and raw power. After fifty jumps or so, most people get about as quiet as they're going to unless they intentionally work at it. Occasionally you run into someone who is nearly silent. When he still had all of his body parts, Alastor Moody could easily apparate behind someone and they'd never noticed that he'd moved."
She took out two apparation license cards, signed and dated them and said, "Keep a distance limit of a few miles for your first hundred jumps. The amount of sound that you're making is a good barometer indicating that you're going a safe distance."
"Thank you, Inspector," said Harry. "Can we buy you a beverage?"
"No but thank you. I have some work to do for Amelia."
"Thank you," said Hermione as Hammer silently disappeared.
"Now I can take you on a proper date," remarked Harry.
"Or an improper one," replied Hermione, giving him a suggestive wiggle. "Let's go home."
… - ...
Dan was reading the Quibbler article advising readers who were selling items at muggle pawnshops to pay attention to exchange rates before agreeing to sell anything valuable. He showed it to Emma, who thought that there must be a lot of people looking to raise some cash, "Or quite a bit more from what I heard from Connie Hammer the other day. She saw someone sell an entire silver service set on the street a few weeks ago."
Dan added, "You're not supposed to sell items that have been charmed, hexed or cursed either."
"I suppose that makes sense."
"It certainly makes sense to have a rainy day fund to tide you over for a few months if necessary."
Emma pointed out, "That's probably less painful than it would be selling the Land Rover."
He cringed at the thought of losing his favorite vehicle.
… - ...
Monday August 21
It had been estimated that just under a quarter of the wizard homes lacked conventional plumbing. The traditional wizarding homes were normally powered either by runes with a wardstone or charms. They could also be renewed by a weekly charge-up. When the wands first began to return to muggleborns, a cottage industry of sorts sprang up that would have made the Creeveys green with envy. The advertisement appeared in the Quibbler.
Mick's Charm Repair
Have wand, will travel
Wards renewed, charms renewed
25G
For the small fee of twenty-five galleons a visit, Mick Paulson, an enterprising muggleborn who possessed a fair amount of raw power, a load of stamina, as well as a true gift of gab placed the ad in Lovegood's paper. After receiving his wand, the young auror cadet took a leave of absence from his four hundred galleon a month position.
Mick's initial appointment was normally slotted at two hours – plenty of time for a first-time customer; allowing him time to cast air fresheners and a cleaning charm or two before getting down to work. For wardstones, Mick would cast a patronus charm and have it stand as near as practical to the wardstone. While it did take some skill to cast and was fairly impressive, without an actual threat nearby, it wasn't a big drain on his system. Five or ten minutes would always be sufficient. For charmed appliances and bathrooms, he cast an overpowered lumos, which would almost always work.
What Mick was truly skilled at was selling recurring service contracts with a thirty-day cancellation clause. The 25 galleons charged for the initial two-hour appointment seemed very reasonable to the well-heeled clientele. After a week or two, they payed little attention to the actual time spent which quickly turned into 45 minutes.
At the end of his first month, he had made 4,000 galleons for knowing;
*How to sell a job and take detailed notes
*Several air freshening charms
*Patronus charm
*Overpowered lumos charm
*How to modify a charm to be voice activated
*Apparition
Compared to the five-hundred and ten galleons a month that Arthur Weasley had been paid before lay-off, Mick was doing all right. His only challenge had been researching the voice activated charm.
His customers enjoyed;
*Running water
*Showers and toilets that functioned (bath tubs were extra)
*Lights that worked
*Hot water
*Stoves, and cold boxes that functioned
Everyone was happy. Later, when wands became available again, Mick figured that he would rejoin the aurors possessing a very comfortable nest-egg.
...-...
For those families on a tighter budget, Nobb, the dishwasher at the Leaky Cauldron had a brilliant idea. Based on the tip that he'd heard from Stan Shunpoke a month earlier, he'd added his niece and three of her friends' names to the employee list that Gringotts had sent around the next day – well before the Wand Shop had opened. At first, nothing happened.
Then the floo service reopened. Nobb's niece, Mandy made a deal with Tom the owner. For four galleons, a family would be served a simple but filling meal of mostly vegetable and potato beef stew. They would also have use of one of two upstairs rooms that Tom had set aside. As the Leaky Cauldron was the other building in Diagon Alley to have electrical and plumbing service, everything was working. So for fifty minutes they could take a quick hot shower and get cleaned up, then enjoy a hot meal – all for four galleons.
The girl on duty had ten minutes to clean the bathroom and put in fresh towels. Once a shift, the girls ran the washer and dryer, so there were towels for the next shift. Tom put up a sign-up sheet and the customers paid when they made their reservation. The girls and Nobb were paid one galleon each. By September 1, each of the girls had made eighty galleons.
While nowhere near as much money as the enterprising Auror trainee made, eighty galleons was way more spending money than Mandy and her friend Lisa had ever had when going to Hogwarts.
Once school started, Penelope asked her sister to join her and they were both very happy with the arrangement. Tom and Nobb kept the service open for the next nine months. They, the girls and the clients were all happy.
… - …
Flitwick was disillusioned, sitting on a bus stop bench across from a non-descript apartment building in of all places a muggle neighborhood and eating a very greasy lightly grilled, shredded beefsteak with melted cheese. He thought, Oh what a muggle delicacy! It's two days I've been going without a rest since I received Ragnok's task. Thank the goddess for potions.
Just then he saw his target come out of the building and head right to where he was sitting. Wilkie Twycross crossed the street and sat down, right next to him.
How ironic; hiding in the muggle world and using muggle buses to get around, thought Flitwick. It can't get any easier than this as he stunned him and pressed a portkey into his chest and with a flash of light, they were in a cell in the Citadel.
A short time later after pouring a potions cocktail down his throat he woke him up.
"Hello Mr. Twycross. We have much to discuss today."
"I've nothing to say to you."
"That remains to be seen." Flitwick cast a spell to put his countdown clock up then waited for a few minutes as his captive's eyes glazed over.
"Are you a Death Eater?"
"No"
"Do you believe in Voldemort's doctrine?"
"No."
Flitwick asked, "Then why did you hurt those children?"
"For the money."
"I know you were using Michelle Edgecombe to do research for you. She'd pass on the names and addresses of muggle born to you."
"No. Not to me. Always through Thicknesse."
"Exactly what did you do for him?"
"Bind the childrens' magic and perform obliviations."
"Did you do anything else?"
"Rarely..."
"How long did you work for him?"
For two hours Flitwick questioned him, ascertaining his involvement actions and compensation. Finally the operative cast, "Obliviate."
… - ...
Wednesday August 23
Flitwick left and went to the Nation's hall of records. Pulling a book he looked up a name and place and created a portkey.
"Time is of the essence-activate."
Flitwick appeared on a wooded lane with rolling fields of green stretching off into some hills to the North. It was mid-day and bright sun shone in a cloudless sky.
About three hundred yards away, at the end of a stone drive, sat a decrepit manor house. It looked like it had been unoccupied for a long time. He cast several spells and smiled a grim Goblinesque smile. The magic that maintained the house was failing. He disillusioned himself and set off. Arriving at the back door he cast a spell and found that his target was in the room behind the door.
Flitwick cast a bombarda at the door, blowing it right off the wall, frame and all. The massive oaken door slammed into Pius Thicknesse and blew him into the wall opposite. Target and door slowly slid to the floor. Flitwick strode in and banished the door to the side.
"We have no time to waste my friend," said Flitwick as he slapped the portkey onto his chest and both were whisked away to another cell in the Citadel.
A few minutes later, the soaking wet and drugged Pius Thicknesse was answering questions.
It had been a long integration. He was tired. Flitwick looked at the clock. Just a half hour left. He paused to down another pepper-up potion.
"Just a few more questions and we'll be done here. Who's idea was it to do the bindings and obliviating back in 1950?"
"Old man Malfoy offered to pay to have it done. I liked the idea."
"Do you remember going after Emma Granger in 1981?"
"I remember her. Brown curly hair, a big mop, all wild like. Yes, and she was a two-for. I was surprised. Twycross had bound her magic and obliviated her back in the early fifties. And here she pops up again with a little witch in tow and preggers again. I marked her and set up an accident. I charmed the brakes in their muggle carriage to fail. The husband was a muggle. I saw them crash into a tree."
"When did you turn to killings instead of binding and obliviating?"
"A couple months after the Potter brat killed the Dark Lord. Lucius Malfoy had bought his way out of trouble and upped the ante. He said we had to prepare for the Dark Lord's return and needed to start a more permanent cleanse of the scum. He offered me a lot more of his wife's money to sweeten the pot. He was nuts."
"Was he the only one funding your operation?"
"It was mostly Malfoy money at first..."
After another ten minutes, Flitwick had asked his last question and cast, "Obliviate."
… - …
Friday August 25
Minerva just finished getting Diggory and Chang settled in when a ministry owl found her. She opened the letter and read;
Professor McGonagall,
Please be advised and ready to receive a team from Gringotts tomorrow morning at 9:00. They will be at Hogwarts for the purpose of securing the Chamber of Secrets and contents. My expectation is that they will conclude their business by the end of the day and not require accommodations. I anticipate that Cheryl Whitehart will be accompanying the party. You are not required to answer any questions if that is your choice.
Amelia Bones
Her request seemed straight forward enough. She'd let them in and get back to her business.
A/Ns
I was tempted to illustrate another dozen purebloods who'd lost their businesses. Suffice it to say that seeing your business go bankrupt through no fault of your own isn't pretty in any culture. Neither is burning through your savings and becoming homeless.
Parts of the wizarding world are improving; for others, their situation is getting desperate.
Does anyone have or see a problem with the Nation's methods?
The last Horcrux by Th3Alchemist is a story that I enjoy following.
