All characters are property of JK Rowling and I do not make a profit from this story.
Chapter Sixty-Three: Food Poisoning
Hermione Granger – Present Day
March 23, 2001
Hermione folded up the Daily Prophet in her hand and frowned; something seemed incredibly wrong with what she just read.
"What's wrong?" asked Ron, who had just come into the tent, after being relieved of his watch by Harry.
"Apparently there were three deaths in Azkaban last night," she responded.
"Really? Who?"
"Crabbe's dad, Theodore Nott's dad, and Draco's dad."
"Lucius is dead?"
"It would appear so," answered Hermione. "Hey, Harry!" Hermione called out. "Would you come in here for a moment?"
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, peering into the tent.
"Lucius Malfoy and two other Death Eaters died in Azkaban last night," said Ron.
"What? How?"
"Well, according to the article that Rita Skeeter wrote in the Prophet, it seems as if some food went bad."
"And it caused only three of how many to die?" questioned Harry. "This story doesn't add up."
"My thoughts exactly," said Hermione, frowning.
"What does it matter?" asked Ron. "There are three less Death Eaters in the world; that's a good thing."
"Yes, but Ron, the way they died doesn't make sense. I almost wonder if Grindelwald had anything to do with this."
"Grindelwald? Why?"
"Because he had supposedly died in prison, too," responded Harry, following Hermione's train of thought. "What has the Ministry said about it?"
"Apparently they've ruled it as an accident," Hermione replied, looking at the article once more. "Ministry Officials have confirmed that no foul play had taken place and it was indeed a misfortunate event. The families have been notified and arrangements are being made for their funerals."
"Funerals? I thought they would be buried in the Prison's graveyard?" asked Harry.
Hermione shook her head. "Prisoners only get buried there if the relatives don't claim the bodies. If they do, they have the right to bury them wherever they wish."
"So, I suppose you'll be wanting to contact Malfoy, then?" asked Ron.
"You know I can't," she responded quietly.
"But maybe you should," said Harry, both to Ron and Hermione's confusion. "Come on, you both know there's more to this story."
"Yes, but I can't risk being seen talking to Draco."
"Why not? We are already in hiding; what is Narcissa going to do?"
"No, Harry, and I'm not open to discussing it either!"
"Fine, then we need to have Ginny look into it."
"Ginny? Harry, are you mad?"
"No I'm not mad, Ron! Ginny is our eyes and ears out there right now and someone needs to look into this."
"So, you're willing to put her in danger, then?"
"She's agreed to put herself in danger when she joined the Order."
"Some husband you're going to be!" yelled Ron. "I wouldn't dare let Jessica get involved in anything as dangerous as that!"
"No, you'll just let her underage child have your wand!"
"Harry!" yelled Hermione. "How could you – Ron, no!" but it was too late; Ron had attacked. It took Hermione quite some time to magically separate the pair, and once she was done, both had bloodied faces.
"GO!" Harry yelled at Ron. "It wouldn't be the first time you took off! I don't even know why you're here!"
"Stop acting like you run the show, Harry, because this time you don't!"
"What is the matter with you two?" Hermione screeched, standing between the two of them. "Harry, Ron is not right in this situation either, but you're going too far!"
"The truth hurts," said Harry, still keeping his eyes on Ron.
"At least she's alive," Ron retaliated. "Unlike all the people that died on your behalf."
Harry struggled to attack Ron, but Hermione's spell didn't allow him to move. "I've had it with the pair of you! There is enough going on right now and I don't need to add to our pile! So, I've already given it a lot of thought and have decided that we are splitting up!"
"What?" asked Harry and Ron in unison.
"You heard me! Ron, you will go to Diagon Alley with me, and we will find out what we can about Fortescue's death and where those horcruxes could be. Harry, you need to go speak to Aberforth and find out everything that you can about Grindelwald. If we are going to defeat him, we need information."
"Hermione, I am not going to waste my time talking to-"
"You are going to, Harry, because if there's one thing that Albus Dumbledore has taught us it's that knowledge is power. Now, we will meet at the mountain just passed Hogsmeade where we used to meet Sirius and Buckbeak in about three weeks, and we are leaving now!"
"Hermione…"
"Harry, get out of this tent! I mean it; GO!"
"FINE!" Harry yelled. "I actually don't need either of you!" Hermione watched Harry grab his rucksack and disapparate without another word.
"What now?" Ron asked her.
"Now, we go and figure out where these Horcruxes are, and I swear Ron if you say one thing to piss me off then I'm leaving you behind!"
Ginny Weasley – Present Day
March 23, 2001
The current Order of the Phoenix meeting had just ended, and Ginny was heading back to her flat that she shared with Harry after a very long meeting, when she was stopped by Aberforth in the hallway.
"Take this," he said, handing her a wooden box. "I was told to give this to you if Potter ever took off, and well, he took off." Before Ginny could ask any questions, Aberforth left Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, and apparated into the cold night air. Anxious to know what was inside, Ginny quickly apparated back to her flat and opened up the box to reveal its contents. Inside, she found several pieces of parchment, all with Harry's handwriting. The first piece of parchment was the rights to the Dobwig Association, which she learned, after reading the entire parchment, now belonged to her. There was no detail as to why Harry had left it in her name, but she knew that he must have had a reason, and so she made a note to head there tomorrow and start searching for whatever it is that he had left her. The next piece of parchment she picked up was folded in half, with the words unsuspecting allies on the folded side. Inside, she saw the following:
Katie Bell
Oliver Wood
Cho Chang
Viktor Krum (he owes me one)
Ginny continued to rummage through the box, but most of it was simply legal paperwork to ensure that nobody could take the Dobwig Association from her. She closed the box and yawned; it had been an incredibly long day and she needed rest. She laid her head down on the pillow and drifted to sleep almost instantly, and would have slept the entire night had it not been for the loud annoying tapping at her window. Getting up, Ginny opened the window to allow an unfamiliar owl drop a letter into her hands, before flying away without waiting for a return letter. Rubbing her eyes, Ginny unrolled the small scroll and read the words that were scribbled on it: One of three I have received, two of three is coming to me. Three of three lies waiting on you, bring it to me or they all die too. The hairs on the back of Ginny's neck prickled as she tried to make sense of the note. Truthfully, the threat of someone dying didn't scare her; she was so used to everyone she loved being threatened by one thing or another and this simply added to that list. What was troubling her was that whoever had written this clearly acquired something of value, and given the tone of the riddle, cannot be something good, yet they already had one and possibly two of whatever it was. Whatever the third thing was, it was evident that the writer had no means of retrieving it, but she, Ginny, did. She paced back and forth in her room, trying to think what it could be. The only thing she had access to would be stuff from the Order, but then anybody in the Order could have received this letter, so why her? Sighing, she took a seat at her table in the dining room, grabbed a quill, and started making a list of all the possibilities. Sleep was undoubtedly not an option tonight.
Harry Potter – Present Day
March 24, 2001
It was well passed midnight when Harry arrived at the outskirts of Hogsmeade. There was still snow on the ground and he was freezing, having only grabbing his rucksack when he departed the shared tent with Ron and Hermione. He angrily trudged through the snow, not concerning himself with getting caught. The anger that he felt right now was so strong that he knew if he came across anyone, Ministry official or Grindelwald, he would easily blast them away. Luckily, however, he uneventfully arrived at the door of Aberforth's house, and knocked on it quietly, before being let in by a very disgruntled Aberforth.
"Trying to get me killed, Potter?" asked Aberforth, locking the door behind Harry and heading over to the kettle to make them both a cup of tea.
"Sorry," said Harry, "but I don't think they'll look for me here." Aberforth grunted but said nothing else. "How was today's meeting?" Harry asked him.
Aberforth shrugged. "The usual; a bunch of new problems without any new solutions."
"You guys heard about the deaths, then?"
"Aye, we did."
"And?" asked Harry, irritated.
"It was a brief discussion, Potter; most people agree that there's no need to dwell on the death of three Death Eaters."
"Most?"
"Remus and Ginny think it's important."
Harry smiled. "Well, I agree." Harry waited for Aberforth to say something, but he remained silent. "Did, uh, Grindelwald ever mention the Abracadabra spell to you?"
"Gellert Grindelwald was not my friend, Potter."
"I know, I just thought-"
"You thought what, exactly?" interrupted a very irritated Aberforth. "That because my brother knew the wizard for a whole two months that I would have some information that could be of use?"
"I'm sorry," answered Harry, trying to remain calm. Hermione thought it was important for Harry to get information from Aberforth and despite how Harry currently felt towards her, he knew that she was probably right. Getting through to Aberforth, however, was no easy feat, and Harry knew that tonight was not the night.
"I only have two bedrooms upstairs," said Aberforth, still short but with a softer tone. "The first door on the left is my room and the other bedroom is where my goat tends to sleep so I wouldn't recommend going in there, but there is a sitting room up there with a small pull out couch if you'd like."
"Thank you," Harry responded.
Aberforth nodded. "Help yourself to whatever food you'd like, just stay away from the windows and doors; I have no interest in going to Azkaban for you." Aberforth sat down his empty cup and headed upstairs to bed. Harry debated on eating before finding the pull out couch. It had been a little while since he ate something warm, but having a safe place to sleep was even more scarce, so he chose the latter and headed to the couch where he found a blanket and pillow waiting for him. Yawning, Harry laid down, and allowed himself to be drifted away to sleep. He knew he had quite the challenge ahead of him, but decided that he would worry about it in the morning.
Iris Dartmouth – The Past
September 3, 1991
Iris walked into the staff room of Ilvermorny, not expecting to run into anyone. "Oh, sorry," she said, when she realized that she wasn't alone.
"Not at all, please, come in!" responded the Professor, who was sitting at the table reading a book.
"Thank you."
"I'm Eric O'Brien," he said, once she took her seat. "I teach Arithmancy, and you must be the new Charms Professor?"
Iris nodded. "Iris Dartmouth."
"Dartmouth; you must be British."
"Actually, I was born and raised just north of Bulgaria, but my ancestry does date back to Britain. And you? Your name sounds Irish."
"Irish I am! I just moved here about two years ago when I was offered the position."
"Same as me," she said. "It'll take some getting used to though, living in North America."
"It's not bad," answered Eric honestly. "So, how do you like Ilvermorny?"
"Well, it's only my third day here, but I'm honored to have a teaching position."
"Well, you'll have one for life, here! Have you noticed that all the Professor's are of age? Nobody wants to leave this place!" Eric chuckled.
"Nor do I so I suppose I'll fit in quite nicely!"
"I'm sure you will," Eric responded, smiling. "If you'll excuse me, though, I do have a class coming up that I must prepare for."
"Of course."
Iris watched Eric leave, but before he headed out the door, he turned to her once more. "I really am glad you've joined the staff, Iris," he said, taking a sip of his tea that he was taking with him. "It'll make for quite an interesting year for me."
"How so?"
Eric grinned sheepishly. "Well, as I said, all the Professor's here are near retirement; it'll be a distraction having a beautiful witch such as yourself on board." With another sip of his tea, Eric turned and left and headed for class.
Author's Notes: Hello! So, this chapter is pretty self explanatory! To answer a question I received on a review, you will eventually learn who Grindelwald's mystery woman is, but it's not going to be yet unfortunately. If anyone guesses at who she is, I will not confirm or deny your answer to keep it a surprise, BUT I will give you this one and only hint: The woman is a canon character meaning it is not a made up character such as Jessica. Good luck figuring it out! (yes, I have dropped clues within the story and there will continue to be little easter eggs here and there).
The next chapter will focus on what happened at Azkaban.
Thanks as always and please keep reviewing!