The Eighth Year Universe
Love Wins
Scars, Broken Hearts
The chapter title comes from the song:
Outlaws – Greenday.
A few hours before Harry was due to come home, Daphne visited Blacknot Castle. As she had expected, Draco and Hermione were at work, and Theo was catching up with some correspondence in the study, which made it easy for her to catch Sadie alone.
She was in the greenhouse, humming a Celestina Warbeck song while she tended to the mandrakes.
Daphne hovered in the doorway, torn between making a joke and being nostalgic.
"They like to be serenaded then?" She came out with eventually.
Sadie jumped and spun around, "Daphne! I wasn't expecting you, sorry."
"It's fine," Daphne chuckled, "I didn't call ahead, but I…I just really wanted to talk to you about something."
Sadie pulled her gloves off and nodded, "Do you want to walk?"
Looking out at the fair August day, Daphne nodded too, "Yeah, let's walk."
The two women fell into step with each other, and Daphne voiced her thoughts, "We saw a lot of people when we went through the veil… in the place you called purgatory."
Sadie nodded, "I suppose you would have."
"Purgatory implies that it's somewhere between Heaven and earth," Daphne pointed out, "But from what they said, it's their heaven, the Land of Eternal Summer."
"It's not Heaven or limbo, really," Sadie admitted, "It's just what's beyond the veil."
"Literally," Daphne said, giving her friend a pointed look, "You're not an Unspeakable anymore, and I'm your oldest friend. Can't you give me the answers, so I know what's going to happen to my father when he dies?"
Sadie sighed and looked down, "The veil is a creature like I told you."
"Yes, but it's ancient, Sadie," Daphne pointed out, "So who the hell made it?"
Sadie looked up at Daphne and smiled sadly, "Someone who was very sad and very lonely. Someone who was capable of recreating the magic used within the resurrection stone and who desperately tried to do that to bring back the person they loved most in the world."
Daphne's eyes widened with realisation, "Someone who your family are descended from?"
Sadie nodded.
"Rowena Ravenclaw?"
"Yes," Sadie replied.
"When she realised what she had done by creating a portal to the other side, Rowena was horrified with herself, and she never managed to bring Helena back either. The veil… does let you bring people back, but at a cost. When you activate the portal and enter, you make a contract, but you can't see it. Still, it's written on your bones in an ancient, long-dead language that the Muggles call Enochian."
Daphne frowned but listened to Sadie's lengthy explanation.
"If you try to return with someone who belongs in the land of eternal summer, then you must stay there," Sadie finished, "That's the deal you make when you step through – a life for a life."
"Typical Death magic," Daphne said with a shake of her head.
"It was why Rowena couldn't get Helena back," Sadie said softly. "She had other children to raise. She couldn't throw her life away on her eldest child, but she knew the veil was dangerous, and as such, it couldn't remain at Hogwarts. So she removed it from the entrance to Helena's tomb, where it had sat deep below the school. And she entrusted it to the wizarding council who kept it safe deep underground in London. Then, when the ministry was created, they built on top of it to avoid the Muggles ever learning of its existence."
At the end of this story, Daphne let out a sigh of realisation, "The chambers under the school where Harry fought Voldemort in our first year…."
Sadie nodded, "He entered via a trapdoor because the old entrance had been taken away and bricked up. But yes, that was Helena Ravenclaws tomb."
"Merlin," Daphne said with a shake of her head.
Sadie gave Daphne a moment to come to terms with the realisation, then she added, "The veil took on a life of its own. Over time, it became sentient. It developed a purpose – to protect the land of eternal summer from those who would destroy it. So when a magical person died, the veil absorbed their magic and kept itself powered up that way. It's why it only allows people access to the land of eternal summer when the correct spell is used by the correct person."
"A descendant of Ravenclaw," Daphne said, the realisation hitting her like a train.
Sadie nodded, "Exactly. It enabled me to study what comes after death."
"For good people," Daphne pointed out, "The bad people go somewhere else, I suppose?"
"They do," Sadie agreed, "The veil is picky about the magic it absorbs. It's sort of like goblin-made steel, you know how it - "
" - only takes in that which makes it stronger," Daphne finished with a nod.
Sadie looked over at her oldest friend, "Yes, well, the veil only takes in the sort of magic that makes it stronger. Not the kind that would corrupt it. So it absorbs the magic of good souls, the ones who will end up on the other side of it ironically enough."
They paused by the treeline, and Sadie pulled her cloak closer to her body.
"There is no portal to whatever happens for the bad souls, but I think Azkaban is kind of a metaphor for Hell. It's a place where Dementors eat souls, and people never find peace."
"What separates a good soul from a bad soul, exactly?" Daphne asked quietly.
Sadie looked at Daphne carefully for a moment before replying.
"There is no hard and fast rule. It's not like if you use an unforgivable once, your soul will be forever tainted…it's more about who you are at your centre. Your magical core is so irrevocably linked to you, and that's ultimately what matters."
Daphne frowned down at her feet, "Do you think my mother ever found peace?"
"I don't know," Sadie confessed, "But I don't suppose my father ever did."
With a sigh, Daphne looked at her old friend, "How many times have you been through?"
Sadie feigned innocence, "What do you mean?"
"The veil," Daphne said a little more firmly, "How many times have you been through it?"
Sadie frowned at her, "What makes you think I have?"
"The way you spoke, when you told us what to expect on the other side?" Daphne said. She gave her friend a pointed look, "You knew, from experience."
Sadie shrugged and said, "I went through once."
Daphne shook her head, "No, you didn't. You specialised in Death, and I know you, Sade. You would have picked your specialisation based on what was important to you. Trying to find a way to fix Theo probably comes under that category."
"There is no way to fix Theo," Sadie said quietly, "His magical core isn't full. It hasn't been for years."
"Yes, and yours isn't either," Daphne said, "Only nobody has noticed with you, have they? Because you didn't lose half of it in one go like Theo did, you've been whittling away it over the last decade. Five years here, five years there, until suddenly you're not looking at spending 30 years living after Theo dies anymore."
Sadie swallowed and looked up at her, "Daphne - "
"Don't treat me like an idiot, Sadie," Daphne said calmly, "You never have done before. Don't start now."
With a sigh, Sadie said, "I don't think you're an idiot. But I don't want you to judge me for what I did either."
"I'm not judging you," Daphne promised, "And I'm not going to tell the rest of your family either. I think you should tell them, Theo in particular, but it's up to you at the end of the day."
"How did you notice?" Sadie asked.
"I noticed little things after you told us about the veil," Daphne admitted, "Your hair is greying faster than Draco and Hermione's, not much, just the odd hair here and there. You have a few more wrinkles around your eyes, which I just put down to the stress of your job. But the signs were there, once I knew to look for them."
Sadie nodded, "Theo's known for a long time that he will be lucky to live to his 90th birthday. If he does, we've promised to throw him one hell of a party, but…I didn't want to face three decades without him; you're right. It was selfish, but I used my desire to die in my sleep with my husband towards research in the Department of Mysteries."
"I don't think that's selfish at all, and I would do the same if I was in your position," Daphne admitted.
Sadie looked up at her in surprise, "Really?"
Daphne nodded, "Think of how much you've learned about death, and life after death, more to the point. If more people knew about the Land of Eternal Summer, then there would be less dark magic in the world. I think…people wouldn't fear death the way that Voldemort and the Death Eaters did. What you've discovered will probably make our world a much better place to live in, so…no, I don't think it's selfish in the slightest."
Sadie smiled weakly and reached down to grab Daphne's hand, "Thank you."
Daphne nodded and squeezed Sadie's hand, "So…how many times have you been through?"
"Six times," Sadie confessed, "But because I was going through on my own, I had to use huge celestial events to open the gateway. It was different for you three because you combined your magic to go through."
Sadie leaned against a tree and looked up at the castle in the distance.
"The first time was in 2016, there was a solar eclipse, and I figured five years didn't really matter that much, so I tried it, and I got in. But I think because I didn't believe that there could be anything after death, nothing happened. There was this blank space, and I was stuck there for what felt like hours, but when the veil spat me back out, five minutes had passed."
"So you being you, you tried again?" Daphne guessed.
Sadie nodded, "I researched it further and realised that maybe belief was a big part of it. I read accounts of near-death experiences, and they were all different, but they shared one common feature. Every person saw what they believed came after death."
"So," Sadie continued, "I tried again in 2017, using a solar eclipse to power me through the gateway. That time I found myself in this pseudo heaven environment, I'd imagined for myself. I knew it wasn't real because it was all in black and white. So the veil spat me back out, and I researched some more."
Daphne watched Sadie carefully while she spoke.
"Then my mother mentioned the Land of Eternal Summer one Christmas when Theo and I reluctantly invited her to the castle."
Sadie said with a wave of her hand, "And I realised where I had been going wrong. So the last four times I went through, I landed there."
"Did you talk to anyone while you were there?" Daphne asked curiously.
"Hm," Sadie nodded, "Lots of people. Tracey and Pansy, for one, my Grandma Elsie too. I never saw my father though, that's why I know he never found peace."
"I doubt my mother did either," Daphne mused.
The air between them was rather sombre.
"But your father will," Sadie promised.
She smiled at Daphne, "He will find peace."
"Narcissa will too," Daphne said with a nod, "So at least they'll be together in the end."
"That's all we can hope for," Sadie said softly, "To find peace with the one we love in the end."
Daphne nodded, mirroring her friend's statement.
Suddenly, her father's impending death didn't seem quite as terrifying. Sad, yes, but he would find peace, and that put Daphne's mind at rest.
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement
The Ministry for Magic
London
When Draco swept into Ben's office with a general air of irritation about him, Ben got worried.
Ben sat up a little straighter and squared his shoulders when the door was blown shut with magic, then sealed with a locking and silencing charm.
To anyone else, Draco would have looked like Lucius Malfoy for a moment. Still, Ben was too young to see those similarities.
"It appears your department has sprung a leak," Draco said coolly.
Ben eyed Draco warily, "I presume you're talking about last evening's headline news?"
"The photographs of the Statute Saboteurs that were pasted across every newspaper in the country?" Draco asked sarcastically, "Yes, Ben. That's precisely what I'm talking about."
"And how do you know it came from my department?"
Draco crossed his arms over his chest and stared the Head Auror down.
"Because nobody else knew, Ben. Nobody knew that they had been put in a safe house, and the photographs that were leaked were from the case file in the Organised Crime office."
"None of them did this," Ben said firmly. "And by pointing the finger at Organised Crime, you do realise that you're not only implementing my best friend and former partner but your own daughter?"
The look on the younger man's face was scornful, but Draco didn't let the dig get to him.
"Almina didn't do this," Draco said simply, "She has no reason to. She was the one who found out about Lazarus in the first place."
"Owen didn't do this either," Ben said simply, "Nobody in Organised Crime did."
"Then someone got into the Organised Crime office and copied the file," Draco said shortly. "Either way, it had to be an Auror, so you will find the person responsible, and you will bring them to my office so I can personally fire them."
Ben scoffed and shook his head, "When did you become this, huh? This accusatory politician? I'm telling you nobody in my department did this, and you are not listening."
Draco walked to the door and cancelled out his charms. At first, Ben thought he was going to leave without saying anything else.
Then he turned around and said, "An Auror did this. Find out which one, and bring them to me or your job is on the line. Is that clear enough for you?"
Ben's gaze was steely, but he nodded.
"Yes, sir."
Potter Manor
The Lake District
"They all look like they've had a hard life," Laurel mused.
Thea glanced over her shoulder at the photographs of the Statute Saboteurs. She shrugged and said, "I guess a life of crime doesn't pay."
Andrea rolled her eyes in the corner of the room but said nothing.
They were sitting in the kids' lounge, all of them bar Teddy, who was at work. Technically Andrea and Alastor were in charge of the younger kids while the adults all went to the hospital to bring Harry home.
"Isaak, he's alright though," Alastor mused.
James and Harry weren't paying that much attention to the conversation, but the three girls all looked at Alastor like he was mad.
"What?" Andrea uttered.
Alastor looked up and shrugged, "He's nice on the eyes, isn't he? I mean, everyone loves a bad boy."
"Yeah, not a fucking terrorist though, Alastor," Thea muttered.
Laurel sniggered under her breath, and Andrea snapped her book shut.
"They aren't terrorists."
"I'm pretty sure every freedom fighter who has ever lived would argue that they aren't a terrorist," Laurel pointed out.
Andrea gave them both an irritated look, "You two are so naïve. You still see the world in black and white, but there are so many shades of grey in-between."
She got to her feet, "Look at our family, and you can see that! Our parents aren't perfect, none of us are perfect! You don't know anything about those people apart from what some ignorant idiot leaked to the Prophet! So don't sit here and judge them."
Guilt flitted across Thea's face for a second. Then she shrugged.
"They kinda made their choice when they killed Natasha, though."
Andrea sighed and rubbed her eyes, "If they even meant to do that. Merlin, Thea, the world we live in is awful, and I don't understand how you can't see that! Love potions may be illegal, but anyone with a brain can brew them. People get drugged every day, but you still hang around with scumbags like Zach Smith!"
She shook her head and continued, "The imperius curse is illegal, but there's no way to track if someone is using it, is there? It's not like an alarm goes off in the Auror office every time an Unforgiveable Curse is used. Yes, magic is wonderful, and we're all so lucky to have it, but it also comes with a price, and that is what you two don't seem to realise!"
Laurel frowned up at Andrea, "But all the reforms were to stop those things from happening."
"Andie's right," Alastor admitted, "Reforms can make things better, or they can just cover up the issue. Bad things still happen all the time. If they didn't, we wouldn't need Aurors anymore, would we?"
Harry glanced over at them, "They're right, Laurie. If the Aurors put the Saboteurs in a safehouse instead of prison, then they must have had a reason for doing that."
"Exactly," Andrea said firmly, "And until we learn what that reason is, we don't get to judge. It's not our place."
"Until they attack again," Thea said irritably, "And they kill more innocent people. I guess that's when it becomes our place, huh?"
Andrea gave her a cold look, "I don't know who you have been hanging around with, but you're starting to sound like a traditionalist, and that's not how we were raised to think."
She left the room without another word, and Thea scoffed, "Ugh, someone needs to snog her or something. Does she have to be such a moody cow all the time?"
"Funnily enough, she's only a moody cow when you're in the room, Thea," Alastor retorted sarcastically.
Laurel glanced between the siblings and helpfully changed the subject.
"Anyway, Thea, can you help me with this Transfiguration homework, please?"
"Yeah, sure, Laurie," Thea said. She sighed and looked over at Alastor, who was resolutely looking down at the newspaper once more.
"Do I really have to use the chair?"
Lilly gave Harry a pointed look, "What happened to 'you're the Healer, I'll follow your orders', huh?"
Harry sighed and looked up at Potter Manor in the distance.
"I'm glad to be going home. I just don't want the kids to see me like this."
Neville placed a hand on his shoulder, "I get it, you know? But just think of it this way. The kids are just seeing you as the scrawny little arse we knew you as before Auror training made you bulk out."
Harry laughed and looked back at him, "Thanks for that, Nev."
Neville smiled in response, and Lilly moved in front of his wheelchair.
"They won't care that you're in a wheelchair," She assured him, "They just care that you're alive."
"So, stop being vain," Daphne agreed.
Harry scoffed, "Coming from you? Bit rich, isn't it?"
Daphne would usually have bickered back and forth with him, but she just smiled. Like everyone else, she was just happy that he was alive right now.
"Come on then," Harry said. He tapped the side of the chair, "I'm dying for a decent cup of coffee."
All three of them gave him a disbelieving look, and Harry grinned.
"What, too soon?"
Nick & Nina's Flat
Central London
Nobody was really touching their dinner. It had been stupid, deciding to have a serious conversation over dinner, really.
But still, it had needed to happen.
The first thing Almina noticed was how nervous Nina seemed, which was a little out of place. It wasn't like she had been against the whole 'let's buy a flat together' idea, after all.
"Okay," Teddy said, clapping his hands together, "Obviously, this should be a happy time because Rob is alive, and my dad woke up. But all of that is tinted with sadness because tomorrow is…Natasha's funeral."
Nick nodded and glanced down at his hands.
"But we're all here," Teddy said softly, "And I think maybe we should be sad, but also grateful for the people we love who are still here."
Nick nodded, and Almina leant forward.
"Things looked pretty grim for a little while. Teddy and I were having some stupid arguments, but we worked things out, and I am more than okay with the idea of us all moving in together, permanently. I know it won't be easy, there will be arguments, and it will take some time to work it all out, but we can do it. I know we can."
Nick cleared his throat and nodded, "I…I didn't want to do this before Natasha's funeral, but there's not really a right time. I can't put my life on hold because she's gone, and she'd kick my arse from the other side if I did."
Nina smiled weakly.
Nick nodded to himself more than anyone else. Then he dropped down onto one knee, "So I'm just gonna say it. I love you, Nina Frost. I think I've loved you since our first year at school when I called you Frost Queen, and you shoved me in a freezer."
Teddy chuckled, and Nick smiled up at Nina.
"With everything that has happened, I've re-evaluated things. I've realised that there's no point waiting for the right time because when you love someone this much, there isn't a right time," Nick said softly.
"You just do it. You just muddle through together because love is enough."
Nina's eyes were full of tears.
"So Nina Frost, all I want is you, forever. Will you marry me?"
Nina stared at him and then burst into tears. Nick's eyes widened, and Teddy and Almina looked at each other in horror.
'What the fuck?' Teddy mouthed at Almina, who shrugged and mouthed back, 'I don't know!'
"Nick," Nina said through her tears, "I'm pregnant."
Nick didn't know what he had been expecting her to say, but it wasn't that. He was so shocked he lost his balance, and Teddy caught him before he could knock himself out.
"W…what?"
Nina gulped in a breath, "I found out the morning that Natasha died, and I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't know how to tell anyone! I told a 4-year-old that I was treating for a Quidditch injury because I had to say it out loud to someone!"
There was a brief silence, and then Almina reached over to grab Nina's hand, "Okay, let's just rewind a little. Are you happy about this, Nina?"
Nina swallowed and nodded, "I always wanted children. I never had siblings, and I always wanted to have a house full of kids, but…we didn't plan it."
Teddy nodded and looked between them, "Uh…when…?"
"It was the night of the Ministry Ball," Nina said, biting her lip and looking between the two men, "So…I don't know…."
Teddy shook his head and looked at Nick, "It doesn't matter, does it?"
Nick shook his head, "Not to me."
His eyes found Almina's, and she shook her head, "No, it doesn't matter."
Nina let out a breath and nodded, "I'm sorry that I didn't say anything."
"Hey," Nick said, cupping her cheek, "That's okay, alright? You were scared, and the world was falling apart. All that matters is that you're both okay?"
Nina nodded tearfully, "I had my 12 week check yesterday, and everything is fine. The Healer said it was textbook, actually."
Almina sighed and said, "Nina, you shouldn't have had to go to that on your own. I know things were chaotic with Teddy and Nick because of what happened to their dads, but I would have gone with you."
"I didn't know…how you would feel about it," Nina admitted.
"I feel awful that you had to do that on your own when someone should have been holding your hand," Almina said simply.
Nina sobbed and hugged Almina tightly, "You're such a good friend, Mina."
Teddy leant against the kitchen table, looking pensieve and Nick, who was still on his knee, cleared his throat.
"You haven't actually answered my question, you know?"
Almina withdrew from the hug, and Nina looked at Nick with wide eyes.
"Will you marry me?" Nick asked again.
"If you still want me, of course, I will," Nina replied quietly.
Nick scoffed and placed the diamond ring on her finger. Then he pushed himself to his feet and said, "I'll always want you, so that's irrelevant."
Nina smiled and leaned over to kiss him chastely. He wrapped his arms around her, and Almina smiled warmly. Teddy wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head.
When Nina pulled back, Teddy stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. He kissed the top of her head and sighed.
"How much did we have saved?"
"Just enough for a decent flat in London," Nick replied.
Teddy nodded, "I'm gonna have to ask my parents to let me break into that inheritance fund then."
Nina frowned and looked up at him, "What do you mean?"
Teddy looked down at her ice-blue eyes and smiled, "A flat isn't going to cut it anymore, is it? We need a house, probably in Somerset, so we can still be close to London."
Nina's eyes filled with gratitude, and she leant up to kiss Teddy lightly. He was the tallest of the four of them, with Almina only a little shorter. Nick was shorter still, and Nina was the smallest at just over five feet.
Nick smiled and put his arm around Almina's shoulders, "You think we can convince him to consider Devon? I do love a good beach."
Almina smiled and leaned into his embrace, "Hm, maybe. But he'll have conditions."
Nick chuckled and kissed her cheek, "We can reason with him."
Almina laughed and nodded, "Yes, I think we can," she agreed.
The Auror Department
The Ministry of Magic
London
Faye Avery was twiddling her thumbs in the Organised Crime Office.
"Avery! Wanna do a bit of actual fucking work?"
Faye rolled her eyes and looked towards the door, "How come I have to do the graveyard shift while Almina gets a night off?"
"Almina's excused from night shift this week," Owen Cauldwell said calmly, "She's got some family stuff going on."
Faye snorted, "When does she not have family stuff going on? I swear the Black-Nott's are like nextgen Malfoy's, drama, drama, drama."
"If you're going to be a whiny little girl about it, I'll send you to the Statute Saboteur safehouse on your own," Owen threatened.
He was the Senior Auror who headed up Organised Crime, along with Blaine Zabini, who had been with the department so long now he was practically a fossil.
Faye sighed, "Who am I going with then? Kyle or Ezra?"
Kyler Mulciber and Ezra Weasley were both 25 years old and had just been promoted from Juniors to fully-fledged Aurors. Whereas Faye and her Auror partner, Almina, were Juniors, fresh out of the training centre. The six of them made up the Organised Crime team.
"You're stuck with me, Aves."
Faye groaned when Kyler stepped into the room, "Seriously?"
"Have fun!" Owen said sarcastically, "Don't kill each other."
Halfway down the corridor, he added, "Or shag each other!"
Faye made a face, "As if. I have standards."
Kyler, who had gone by Kyle since he was old enough to form his own opinion on how stupid his name was, smirked at Faye. He was three years older than her, and he knew just how handsome he was. His hair was auburn, his eyes were forest green, and all he had to do was smile at a girl to make them weak at the knees.
Faye hated him. Not because she was plain in comparison to him, though. She was elf-like, with pale skin, light turquoise eyes and strawberry blonde hair.
They both came from 'Death Eater stock', as Kyle frequently joked. Faye had it on both sides – her father was the son of Albion Avery, the Death Eater who had been in cahoots with Alfred Nott. And her mother was the daughter of Augustus Rookwood – the Unspeakable turned Death Eater who had helped Voldemort become immortal.
It pissed her off when Kyle referred to her as such because her parents were good people. They had raised Faye, her older sister Elvi and her younger brother Swann to be good people. Elvi was an Unspeakable, Faye had just qualified as an Auror, and Swann wanted to be a Healer.
She was much more than 'Death Eater stock', but Kyle was an ignorant prick, so he didn't care about that.
Kyle, on the other hand, had been raised by his mother, Beth Prewett. She was the estranged sister of Molly Weasley. Ironically enough, Kyler had been partnered up with Ezra Weasley when they joined the Aurors. Ezra was the son of Arthur's estranged brother, Charlus.
Kyle's father had been Fitzroy Mulciber, one of the most brutal Death Eaters who had graced Voldemort's ranks. Still, he had died when Kyle was two years old, and his younger sister Kenna was a newborn baby. Faye had always supposed that union caused Molly to cut off her sister – the Weasley's were so very liberal, after all.
Faye had once referred to them as a pureblooded quartet – her, Almina, Kyle and Ezra. But Almina hadn't taken kindly to that. She was very defensive of her family, and while she and her twin brother were purebloods, that wasn't the case for all of her siblings.
Still, Faye and Almina got along well, and Faye hated shifts when Almina was off sick or on holiday.
"Come on then, pretty boy," Faye said, pushing herself to her feet, "Time to go and babysit."
Kyle fell into step with her, and they headed for the apparition point, "If Katerina keeps flirting with me, do you think it would be - "
"Yes, it would be very frowned upon for you to sleep with a suspect in our case, who we are providing protection for," Faye cut in.
"Aw…fuck."
Draco didn't like an urgent Patronus message before 7 am. It was never good. It always made him nervous, especially when the damn Head Auror wouldn't give any information away in that message.
He presumed that it had something to do with the leak in the department, and as such, he was on high alert when he stepped into the DMLE and stalked into Ben's office.
The minute the door shut, Ben looked up and sighed, "We have a problem."
"I figured," Draco said dryly. He looked from Ben to the two young Aurors standing in his office.
"Sir," They both said, bowing their heads.
Draco waved his hand, "At ease Avery and Mulciber. What's going on, Ben?"
"One of the Saboteurs talked this morning," Ben said.
He looked over at Mulciber and nodded, "Kyle, she spoke to you, so tell Draco what you told me."
For some reason, that set Draco's nerves alight, "Go on."
Kyle looked up at Draco and said, "Katerina Zhukova spoke to me last night, sir. She said that Katrin Luther sent Jelena Levitsky to steal from the Department of Mysteries. Katrin told Jelena to stop anyone who got in her way."
"Which is why Natasha was killed," Draco said darkly.
"We thought so too, sir," Faye said calmly, "So I spoke to Jelena about what Katerina had said. She told me that Lazarus had experimented on her brain in ways he hadn't with the others. Apparently, Jelena is an empath, so Lazarus used her heightened emotions to brainwash her. When he was close to her, he could tap into her mind via Legilimency and control her."
"That doesn't sound possible," Ben said, looking at Draco, "Does it?"
"It doesn't sound possible," Draco agreed. He thought of Voldemort and everything he had done to Harry though, "But it is."
Faye continued, "Jelena said it stopped when she came to Britain. She doesn't know if it's the distance or related to the wards, but the connection was broken. Since then, things he made her do have been coming back in flashbacks, like broken memories."
Draco nodded and observed Faye.
"This Lazarus guy, he had developed lots of ways to control people without the imperius curse," Faye confessed.
"That explains why they can infiltrate every ministry," Draco said, narrowing his eyes at the two young Aurors.
Kyle nodded and cut in, "Sir, Jelena didn't want to hurt Natasha."
"She had been told by Katrin to stop anyone who got in her way, not to kill them. But if Katrin found out, she would have killed her for going soft, so she faked it," Faye said, dealing the final blow.
Draco's eyes widened, "No…You mean, Natasha's not dead?"
Faye shook her head, "The body wasn't Natasha's. It was one of the cadavers that they use in the Department of Mysteries. Jelena injected it with Natasha's blood and put it under extremely complex charms. She did such a good job that it fooled all of us and the Medical Examiner. The real Natasha is alive. Jelena wiped her memory and dropped her off at a convent in Slovakia."
Draco was already halfway to the door, "Do you have the coordinates of that convent, Ben?"
Ben nodded and took a step forward, "Yes, but you can't go alone. It's against protocol. You need a partner."
"I have one," Draco promised, "And he happens to be pretty good at undoing memory wipes."
Ben already knew who he was talking about, so he just nodded.
Draco swept out of the room, and Faye raised an eyebrow, "His partner is Almina's Pops, right?"
"Probably," Ben said. He rubbed his eyes, "Listen guys, great work last night. But this is going to make waves, so keep quiet about it until Natasha's next of kin have been informed."
Kyle nodded, "Right. I mean, obviously, we would have kept it quiet anyway. Still, the fact you felt the need to tell us…you think we're the leak cause we come from Death Eater stock, don't you?"
Faye rolled her eyes at the words 'Death Eater stock'.
"No, Kyle," Ben said firmly, "I don't. I was a Slytherin. I was friends with those who came from 'Death Eater stock', as you just put it. I don't think either of you are the leak because I don't think the leak is in this department."
"You don't?" Faye asked in surprise.
Ben shook his head, "No, I trust every one of you implicitly. Whoever leaked the information about the Saboteurs…it wasn't an Auror."
- TBC -
