Author's Note: I am so appreciative to everyone who is sending me reviews and I promise I will get caught up in answering them this week. Keep them coming, they've helped so much as the craziness in my life has swirled about. A HUGE thank you to my beta, Arnel, who not only gets these back to me in record speed, but who makes me smile. MNF
Chapter 35:
Who are we looking for?
Monday 7 February 1996
Offices of The Weekly Prophet
"Good morning, Lady Black, Lord Black, Dowager Lady Longbottom," Cuffe said with a surprising amount of glee. "To what do I owe the presence of three such illustrious individuals in my office?"
"Truly?" Augusta said. "You have no idea why we're here?"
"I can't imagine, although I was surprised when we received the report that the wands planned for this month were not going to be arriving," he said, offering them seats in his office and pulling on a bell pull to summon his assistant, Longthrom Littleleg. When Littleleg, the six-and-a-half-foot tall man entered the office, Cuffe ordered a cream tea to be served. The other three looked at each other suspiciously. "So, are you here to give me the inside scoop and when the next wand distribution will be, or perhaps to provide me with a wand?"
"I wouldn't give you so much as a heel of bread, you slimy, nonsense-peddling, lout of a human being," Augusta said, her face looking like it was ready to shoot spells out of her eyes in anger.
"I cannot imagine why you're so upset at me, Dowager Lady Longbottom," he said gently and quite befuddled.
"See if this rings any bells for you," she replied and thrust the copy of the front page of yesterday's edition at him. Cuffe was horrified as he read the story. He looked up with his eyes red-rimmed and in shock.
"I have no idea where this story came from," he muttered. "I never would have approved this."
"What do you mean you don't remember it? It's the front page of your weekly rag," Sirius seethed. "You smeared the name and integrity of my son again! Do you NOT recall the conversation we had after the announcement of my engagement which you somehow made about him?"
"No, I do, and I've avoid reporting on Harry except when our knowledge was certain," Cuffe said with his hands held up in a defensive posture. "How could I not remember that conversation; I was only in my dressing gown." Amy wanted to pinch her husband's thigh at that remark but chose to leave it for home. Something was very off here.
Mr Littleleg returned and placed the tea service on the table. He went to the service, but Sirius scooted forward and quickly grabbed the pot. "You'll understand if I check the contents, won't you?" Sirius as he was already waving his wand over the lidless pot, the creamer, sugar bowl and treats tray which had just been brought in as well. Lord Black looked to Augusta and shook his head, so he began playing mother. Augusta first, Amy second and served himself last. He then passed the plates and three-tiered tray of confections. When they were done, he let Cuffe serve himself.
"Mr Cuffe, I've been passively doing a Legilimency scan, you don't have any Occlumency scans up, do you?" Amy asked as she placed her small plate down on the table beside her.
"I don't know how to do either," he confessed. "The truth is that I'm not terribly good at magic. I only was able to keep my wand by passing my OWLs in Charms and Potions. I continued on in Runes, which I excelled at, and made my NEWT in all three, along with Care of Magical Creatures." He paused for a moment, and then took on a quizzical air. "Why did I just tell you that?"
"I do wonder that too," Sirius said. "Amy, what are your thoughts?"
"Mr Cuffe, do I have your permission to do a deeper dive into your memories. Harry was with his therapist on Saturday morning, and he caught sight of a woman and has described her to me. I'd like to see if you have a glimpse of her as well."
"Please, I can't believe I'd ever allow something that salacious to be printed."
"You employed Rita Skeeter for years," Sirius said in an angry manner. "Are you sure it wasn't her?"
"After the debacle with the Triwizard Tournament interviews, I sent her packing. She's on special assignment in Los Angeles, California, USA. She won't ever be back – gossip is the game there. I never wanted to employ her; she was a creature of Lucius Malfoy's."
"Interesting," Augusta said. "Did you know she heard most of her information as she was an unregistered Animagus?"
"What? How did I not know this?" Cuffe stammered and looked as if he was going to be ill.
"Mr Cuffe, I am sorry to tell you that you've had repeated memory charms done on you over the course of the last ten years. If you did meet with this woman, whomever she was, there isn't a chance of finding it in your mind. I suggest you get to St Mungo's as soon as we're done here to have the Mind Healers work on you."
"This is most distressing," Cuffe said, taking out his handkerchief.
"I'll escort you," Sirius said. "Can you tell me one thing first. If a story like the one about Harry and Neville going dark came across your desk, what would your normal next step be?"
"I would need to verify the truth from an outside source or Pensive memory," Cuffe answered. "My Pensive can tell if memories have been altered before viewing."
"We have those in the DMLE," Amy said. "They're supposed to be for Auror and solicitor use only." Cuffe shook his head, as if to say he didn't remember how he came by the stone bowl.
"And if it's found truthful?" Sirius asked.
"Then I'd send the information or written story, with my edits marked, to the production staff, so they could make room for it in the pages. We begin the outer section – where a story like this would be featured – at four o'clock on Saturday afternoon for the Sunday edition. The innards would have been finished on Friday at the latest."
"Thank you," Sirius said, now worried about the man. "Why don't you get your over-cloak?" Cuffe went to the cloak tree behind his desk and slipped it over his shoulders. He then slipped his hand into his pocket and was surprised to find an envelope along with his gloves. "How odd."
"What Mr. Cuffe?" Amy asked. She and Augusta had risen with Sirius. They'd be parting ways – Amy to the Ministry and Augusta back home – while Sirius took Mr Cuffe to hospital.
"There's a parchment in my pocket, and it's addressed to you, Lord Black."
ITWAU ITWAU ITWAU
"Harry are you sure you want me here for this?" Neville asked as they awaited Dr Phillip to visit.
"I'm quite certain, Nev," Harry answered. "While it was me that was eavesdropped on, this affects us both. I think it might do us good to talk with him about how to best deal with our feelings at people's willingness to consider us going dark. The report from Gringotts about what was in some of the mail today was disturbing."
"Hard to believe five people wanted to kill me," Neville confessed. "Of course, you had eleven dangerous envelopes arrive. How do you deal with it?"
"The same way I've endured since second year and everyone thought I was the heir of Slytherin and sent that snake after Justin Finch-Fletchley. I know who I am and what I'm about. I have true friends who trust me and now I have a family who loves me."
"And that, Harry, is why you're as well adjusted as you are, and have persevered," the voice of Dr Phillip sounded from behind the pair.
"Dr Phillip, thank you for coming here to speak with me," Harry said after he'd turned and offered his hand to his therapist. "This is my friend, Neville Longbottom, the other future dark lord," he joked and the two shook hands.
"I was walking by the front door when his car pulled into the drive," Hermione explained. "Come find me when you're done."
"Hermione, you're welcomed to stay," Harry said, closing the short distance between them and taking her hand. "There's nothing I'm going to say that you don't already know."
"It's not that I'm opposed to it, but Remus has agreed to work with me on my silent spellcasting and since I'm so far behind the two of you, I think I'd rather have the tutoring. However, if you need me at any point, just shoot me a Patronus and I'll be right here," she answered before kissing his cheek and giving his hand a squeeze.
"She seems like a very nice girl," Dr Phillip said. "You're well matched."
"They are," Neville agreed. "Actually, makes me a bit disgusted at them." The three laughed, as Harry knew Neville was joshing him. Harry directed the trio to the larger sitting area in the formal living room. He then closed and put up a Silencing Charm before sealing the door.
"Pater can still get in, and any of us can leave, but I don't want the staff deciding they need to vacuum or something," Harry explained. "Coffee, tea, Dr Phillip?"
"Coffee, please," he said before taking a place and selecting a chocolate croissant and a current scone from the beautiful silver tiered tray. Harry handed him the mug and turned the handle of the creamer and the spoon of the sugar bowl toward him before making Neville's tea for him. Harry poured himself a mug of coffee and added just a dash of cream.
"Well, my office was checked for listening devices, Muggle and magical, and nothing was found. However, a tracking charm was found on my jacket. Unfortunately, the magical signature was too degraded to know for certain who it was. Tonks did find the same signature at the little park in the bend where we usually stop. Oddly, it was fully across the small area, well out of listening range."
"A simple amplification charm would be helpful in that situation," Neville said. "Especially if the wind were blowing toward whomever cast it. If they were an elemental, they could even force the wind to assist."
"That's very insightful, Neville," Dr Phillip said. "Harry said you're quite strong in elemental magic as well."
"Earth and Wind, rather than Earth and Water like Harry," he said proudly. "Gran was very impressed as my father could only manipulate Wind, and even then, he wasn't too strong. My mother, however, was a powerful Earth and she and Harry's mum were brilliant when they worked together."
"Interesting. Is that where you came up with the idea to work together on your spellcasting?" Dr Phillip asked, letting the boys direct the conversation.
"A bit, but Maia, our elementals teacher, is the one who brought up tandem work. She's not too sure we should be attempting to combine our skills yet," Neville answered.
"Harry and I have spoken about the blended magic, obviously, and he seems to think that the pair of you can avoid the obvious pitfalls; what do you think?"
Neville pondered his answer for a few minutes, and Harry and Dr Phillip let him. One thing Harry had learned through his friendship with Neville and therapy was silence and contemplation were not bad things. Harry had learned to listen within the quiet and listen for magic to speak to him. The one word he heard continuously while he waited for Neville was 'patience'.
"Harry and I can do what we are suggesting, of that I have no doubts. We can reverse magic in tandem, and that might be enough to accomplish our goal; but I want to know if we needed to, we could combine our magic and make the spell work. I want to perform the spells on smaller creatures first, then move on to our final spell. I honestly think it will be easier with a human, as we can monitor their thoughts; something you can't do with a mouse or a cat."
"I thought this was about making a tree grow?" Dr Phillip asked, looking at Harry.
"That's what we've done in tandem. What we ultimately want to achieve is bringing Neville's parents back from the world their minds are trapped in," Harry stated.
ITWAU ITWAU ITWAU
"Let me put that in an evidence bag," Amy said, reaching into her pocket for the ubiquitous plastic bags the Auror evidence department had purchased in the Muggle shops. It was Tonks who alerted the magical world of how easily they protected evidence and how widely used they were used by the Muggles.
"No, I'm reading it first," Sirius said as he levitated the parchment over to him and then opened the trifold, breaking the non-descript wax seal.
YOU ARE IN A DANGEROUS POSITION LORD BLACK. WE KNOW WHAT YOUR SON DID. HE WILL DIE FOR IT.
MFTW
"MFTW?" Augusta muttered.
"Magic For The Worthy," Sirius answered.
"I thought with the arrests of Umbridge and Dawlish we'd cut the head off this creature. I checked everyone in my department. There isn't a Death Eater," Amy stated.
"No, but there are people who might agree with this shite. Take this with you and please be careful, you too, Augusta. I'm going to escort Mr Cuffe to St Mungo's. Perhaps they will have some luck unscrambling his brain," Sirius directed, frustrated at this turn of events.
