Chapter 11

"Just the person I was want to see." I exclaim brightly strolling up to Claire's desk.

"Good morning Eva. You seem very enthusiastic this morning?" Claire remarks as I motion her to follow me to my office, "and here I was expecting you to have puffy eyes from crying over your break up with Mr. Malfoy."

I stop and glare at her. "Don't you go there also!"

She laughs, shutting the door behind her. "What, someone else giving you a hard time about Rita's story?"

"Yes." I huffed dropping my purse on the ground as I fall into my seat.

"Who was it?"

"Yesterday Draco showed me the article because he knew I would get riled up with anything to do with Rita Skeeter."

"You know she only writes rubbish, you shouldn't let her get to you. That's what she wants." Claire advised matter of factly.

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

"So what did you need to see me for?"

"Oh yes! Do you know anything about how the MCH Department works? With the Malfoy Company creating an investment relationship with the Desmerias firm I was curious about how the MCH Department runs, and wondered if you knew anything about it. Specifically if either end can see that the transactions are coming and going from the right location."

"I only know a little bit about the MCH Department. I would have to assume that either parties would be able to trace each transaction that is made between them. It would seem logical from the financial aspect that you can track each transaction to each specific entity." Claire answers as she settles herself in a chair.

"Gotcha." I begin as I jotting notes on the subject, "That's what I figured but thought you might know."

"Sure. You could also owl Paul, who knows everything there is for the MCH Department. I'm sure he would be able to get more in depth."

"That's not a bad idea." I remark, grinning up at her. "I wanted to check in with you and see if I have any paperwork I need to handle for the Malfoy/Desmarais account?"

"I believe everything should be set for the joint venture for the Malfoy Company and Desmerias. All that is left is a few forms that you need to sign, as well as Mr. Malfoy. They are just on my desk so I'll bring them in. Once those are signed Mr. Desmerias will be notified as well as his respective representatives . Who will then sign their portion, covering the last of it. Mr. Malfoy has already dutifully sent over all the paperwork regarding which Gringotts account will be used for this venture."

"Okay great! I'm glad to see all of this running smoothly. You can bring in that paperwork whenever today and I'll make sure to get that back this week. Are we still doing okay with the deadline?"

"Not a problem and the deadline is not until another two weeks, you guys are making good time."

"Thanks again Claire. I think I will send a note over to Paul."

She nods in agreement as she gets up and heads out the door, while I start to write a note to Paul in the MCH Department. I was glad to hear that we shouldn't have a problem seeing all the places the transactions come from and I could even bet that if I had Draco pull the contracts, we could even eliminate most of the figures. Well that was one less thing to check off and while it's still small, we're making some progress. Watching the inner - department note fly off and out the door for Paul, I started digging through my bag.

Finding the item in search, I wave the enchantment off the seal so I could open the book, before touching the top of my wand on the paper and whispering the password so that I was able to flip to the most recent conversation. It was a book that Hermione helped me acquire so that I could keep notes between Draco and I secure. It was similar to the one I had for Desmerias contract but I had Hermione add extra layers of security. Scribbling an update for Draco I repeated the same process and put the book back in my work bag as Claire stepped backed in.

"Here is the paperwork, again just take this to Mr. Malfoy and then shortly after Mr. Desmerias will be notified." Claire remarks, placing the newly written parchment on my desk, "Is there anything else?"

"Nope that's it Claire."

She left shortly after and I dug myself into miscellaneous work or notes left from Mr. Grootpan, who thankfully was out of the office today for a lunch conference. All the while my thoughts would keep going back to the case with Malfoy.

…..

"I was hoping you would be in today."

Glancing up I find Harry walking in with his Aurors uniform on, "Harry! What are you doing here?" I exclaim, getting up and pulling him into a hug.

"I had an actual lunch break so I figured I would come and see if you were in. Plus I had to grab money out." Harry remarks as we settle at the table.

"Well it's good to see you! How is everything and how's the family?" I question, thrilled to see him.

"Everyone is doing well, wondering when you'll be over again for dinner. Do you want to go grab lunch and we can talk more?"

"Sure, let me grab my bag."

Standing up I collect my wand and purse, following Harry as we shut my office door. Claire's desk was empty and a few other offices were closed, signally that people were taking their lunch break also.

"Do you have a place in mind you want to eat at?" I remark, stepping into the lift and hitting for the bottom level.

"Doesn't matter to me. Ron was already planning to have lunch with Hermione and thought you have been away too long already."

Harry teases lightly as the lift sounds off that we hit the bottom floor, opening to the main floor of Gringotts. It was packed with people moving about to get their business done while on their lunch break.

"How is Ron and Hermione doing?" I ask as we make our way past people and head out the front doors and into the daylight.

"Good, I think. They've been trying to use their lunches to get some time together and not have the kids around. What about you still liking your new job?"

"Yeah, it's going really well. Shall we try here? There doesn't seem to be as many people here eating?" I ask motioning to the Bistro that was coming up on our left.

"Sure. I'm glad to hear it's still going well. I wasn't sure what to expect when he showed up at the bar and then to our surprise seemed to stay and hang around into the morning. Ginny seems to think that more is going on that you're not telling us."

"What! That's crazy!" I exclaim in shock, "The guy just came back into my life."

Having to stop the conversation so we could order. We took our seats and waited for when the food would get served. The bistro was still busy with activity as they dealt with their normal lunch hour rush. You could see people coming to and from the back bring and clearing food as people relaxed from a break from work.

"All right, all right. I'm only teasing you because I know how much Ginny and Hermione must be." Harry exclaims, lifting his hands in surrender.

"Tell me, how's work going for you, any interesting cases you are working on?"

"You know, the same old stuff. We get bogged down in paperwork that brings back all our school years of always having Hermione to bail us out. We've been following leads the last month regarding rumors that Theodore Nott has been cited in France and so we're trying to track him down, for his crimes during the War." Harry began, pausing slightly to take a sip of his drink.

"Any luck or no?"

"A few of them checked out. We do have remnants of magic being used at one of the locations but nothing to give real evidence that he was the one in the location. It's been frustrating." Harry remarked as he pushed his glasses up.

"Wow, is he wanted for anything else?" I ask as our food gets delivered to us.

"Minor stuff, assault, performing magic in front of muggles, as well as the usual when it comes to past Death Eater."

"Right, minor stuff." I mumble shaking my head at the thought.

"We'll get him eventually. He's been on the run since the War ended and has managed to us Aurors. It's been a lot of work the last couple years trying to clean everything up from the War. We'll get there though."

"Well, better you than me."

He laughed and we continued to talk. Moving from topic to topic and of course reminiscing about our school years together. The food at the Bistro was perfect and getting out of the office, even if it was only for an hour felt heavenly.

When lunch ended I felt refreshed and grounded. Which usually happens when talking with Harry; he always knew how to get you to focus on what was more important. He headed back to the Auror's Department where he had according to him, piles of paperwork that he had been putting off. Walking into my own office I found an interoffice memo sitting on my desk. Perfect. Hopefully this would be something from Paul.

Ms. Edward's,

I would be delighted to explain the process of MCH transactions. Would you be free later this afternoon to meet at my office? This is much easier to explain in person. Otherwise I would have felt terrible sending 100 office memos to convey all that the MCH transactions are.

I look forward to your memo,

Paul Hurchilde

Scribbling a quick note back in confirmation that I would be happy to stop in this afternoon to talk it over with him. This was perfect, if I could figure out the general process of how MCH transactions are done it could help us decide how to take the next steps. If the MCH transactions do get labeled from where they are going to or coming from that should give us a lead. Draco and Blaise were both supposed to be getting help from Kerry about the HR files to narrow down who might be suspicious

A few hours later I was taking the lift to the fourth floor, the lift came to a stop and the iron gated doors opened, revealing an department in a flurry of activity. It took me by surprise as it was nothing like the atmosphere of my own floor. Interoffice notes flews above your head in a constant hum that made you think it was just part of the room. Wooden floors and a crème colored walls, it seemed every bit an office.

"Hello. I have an appointment with Paul Hurchilde." I tell the receptionist.

"Ms. Edwards correct?"

"Yep, that's me."

"Great, if you would follow me I'll take you to his office."

The receptionist smiled softly, standing up from her desk and ushering me to follow her down a hallway that had cubicles on either side. Soft chatter was heard as we passed the spots where the desks were occupied. Hanging a left, the center cubicles stopped and another hallway opened with doors that led to the offices of those higher end on the chain of command. Three doors to the left, she knocked and peaked inside before ushering me in before closing the door behind her.

"Ah. Ms. Edwards. Right on schedule."

Mr. Hurchilde was a middle age man, with a growing belly and a receding hairline of sandy blond hair. He was not what I had expected from such a proper penned office note.

"How are you doing Mr. Hurchilde? Thank you for seeing me in such short notice." I remark taking a seat in a chair opposite of him.

"Please call me Paul. I am doing well, thank you for asking. So, you had questions about how the MCH transactions work?"

"Yes."

He nodded thoughtfully and began to explain how the MCH transactions work. He thankfully didn't go into detail about the magic that is involved but he gave a tremendous amount of information that I found very handy. He explained that when the MCH Department receives an incoming transaction, it's always marked the source of the funds. This is also true for when money is pulled from an account here and sent somewhere else. The MCH Department needs to know exactly where those funds are getting sent to. He explained that all of this is needed for the magic that creates this capability. The transfer to or from would never work if the locations where never given.

It was a fascinating meeting and I was beyond thrilled. He not only gave away more information than I thought but he also gave them without me having to ask the question. Another good point he made, was that the part of the MCH Department's job was to also keep record of all of this as far as seven years. It was perfect. If they kept all the information on how money was received or distributed than that meant, we could get access to the Malfoy Companies Gringotts files. Of course the problem was, how could we do this without raising suspicion.

After saying goodbye to Mr. Hurchilde, I mulled over all that he said as I made my way back to my office. There was a lot I needed to write down and tell Draco. Could we really be this close to unmasking where the money was going and who was behind it?! It seems a bit surreal. Writing everything down that Mr. Hurchilde had brought up and a list of potential ideas on what that could mean to us.

Through the MCH Department we can find out where the money is going to.

Through the MCH Department we can go back seven years and see if the money has been going to the same place.

I really wanted us to finally have something substantial. Scribbling one last note down, I sent an owl to Draco informing him of what I found out and giving him the paperwork that he needed to sign. I spent the remainder of the day pouring over notes making sure there wasn't anything I missed and also had Claire get me information on what would be entailed to request history of an account.