Published 24th of October, 2020
Grimmauld Place 12
Midnight
There was silence everywhere when Harry went through the fireplace into the kitchen. He dusted off his sleeves, poured him a glass of cold water and gulped down the glass and was just putting the glass down in the sink when there was a quiet footstep and Ginny entered the kitchen.
„And so?" She asked under her breath, placing a finger to her lips.
"Hermione is asleep?"
"Yet. Or maybe still. At least for now."
"It means?" He said emphatically. "I'm not in the mood to guess."
The red-haired girl sat down on the bench next to the boy and tossed her long hair back.
„It means she falls asleep for a while, wakes up screaming, falls asleep again, wakes up… and again and again. Poor girl. But I asked first. And so?"
Harry slumped on the bench next to her and nodded.
"Hermione's right. Snape is innocent."
"As I can see, you had doubts about it all the time?"
During and after Snape's trial they had argued more than once about how obvious this was.
"Look, Ginny. Auror's job is to PROVE guilt, not to feel that somebody is guilty or not" he sighed heavily. "You may be more than completely sure, but as long as you don't have proof in your hand, what you feel doesn't really matter."
"I know" Ginny replied and pushed his hair from his forehead very softly. "And in your case it doesn't help that it concerns HIM."
„I wanted to admit Hermione was right and in the same time..."
"AND SO?" They heard tense voice from the doorway.
They both turned simultaneously and saw Hermione tightly wrapped in a blanket, staring at them with widen eyes.
Harry immediately began to explain what he found in the Ministry. Hermione sat on the floor in front of them and listened, swinging steadily back and forth while Ginny inquired about some details because she didn't know the whole story yet.
"And you're afraid that Gawain is involved?" Hermione asked finally as there was silence.
"Yes. So before I go to him and tell him what I discovered, I have to check him out."
"How you want to do?"
"I need to check the Wizengamot registry to see if this trial really happened. What I had in hand were just our internal documents that Roger and Paul had handed over to the Archives. They could write what they wanted in them ..."
"Fake the Wizengamot sentence?" Ginny was surprised.
"It's easy. Once someone did something like that, for fun, at the Headquarters."
Peter had typed a sentence that ordered Auror women to fasten their shirts only from the fourth button down and sit next to the others no more than four inches away. That day, Klaudia used words he couldn't even pronounce. The sentence looked real and Gawain went mad.
But if it could be made for a joke, it could be done also "for real".
„Then why didn't you do it?"
"Because" Harry said suddenly nervous, "someone else had exactly the same idea as me. After I finished reading the documents and was about to put it back, someone else had entered the Archive!"
"You know who?" Both girls asked in the same time.
"No, because he cast a Disillusionment Charm and turned off the light. And at first I was afraid he'd come for Snape's documents but luckily not. But he rummaged in documents in the same row, so I had to wait for him to finish."
"But you will do it tomorrow?" Hermione worried.
„You can be sure you will!"
It was getting late, everyone was tired, so after a short while they all went to sleep. As Harry lay down next to Ginny, the girl tapped him on the chest.
„There's something you're not telling me."
Harry propped his head up on the pillow and looked at the velvety black in front of him.
"I didn't want to say that in front of Hermione. Snape is sentenced for Dementor's Kiss. On Friday."
Ginny sat sharply.
"Oh, Merlin! So you have ... Only one day" she finished faintly.
Paul's apartment
07:00
Seven o'clock in the morning went far too fast. Paul lay in bed for a while, enjoying the warm sheets, but after a few minutes he got up as quietly as possible, adjusted Mia's covers and went to wash and get dressed.
While he was shaving, he looked at himself in the mirror and found that he looked bad. Yesterday at 9 p.m. he had a meeting with Tylor who told him that the poison had already been served in chocolate and Fire Whiskey in Diagon Alley and told him to find out about various processes and pending cases regarding poisons the next day. So Paul had no choice but to sneak into the Ministry Archives and spent more than two hours rummaging through all the documents.
Tylor might have told him to get ready for the first wave of sickness and death, but the bastard hadn't said how! And looking at the shadows under his eyes, Paul had great doubts as to whether he would manage to stay calm.
Today.
He felt guilty. And he felt terribly wrong with it. Perhaps this was the reason why he felt that the others knew. When he was in the Archives that night, he had the feeling that he was being watched all the time.
It's time to pull yourself together.
He washed his face with cold water, put on his Auror robes and took breakfast to work. People will surely talk to each other about what is going on, maybe Gawain will want to send someone to the Clinic, so just in case he had some paperwork planned and he was going to spend today and tomorrow at the Headquarters, listening and watching.
And on Friday afternoon he had to go to Azkaban to confirm Snape's execution.
Grimmauld Place 12
The same time
"You is wanting more tea, Master Harry? Maybe one sausage? Miss Inny! Kreacher is made your favorite breakfast! And for Miss Miona! Strawberry jam toast! Kreacher is made it himself this summer! Or maybe you is wanting something else?"
Kreacher was the only one who had energy this morning. He ran around the three of them sitting at the table and, completely undeterred by the lack of their reactions, offered new dishes, brought juice, milk, coffee and tea, yeast cakes and beans in tomato sauce.
Harry and Ginny were just sleepy, Hermione was sleepy, tired and depressed. She hardly slept that night. After talking to Harry she went to bed and continued to think about what she could do to help Severus Snape until Harry finds a way to free him.
She managed to calm down and she stopped to panic that he would not survive Azkaban and even managed to find an excuse to get from Clinic some of the potions she was going to bring him today.
"Just don't take too much" Harry warned her. "Potions have magic in them and if there is too much of it, the dementors will sense it and won't let you into him."
"I can't let him get sick!" Hermione exploded and with a wave of her hand she accidentally knocked the bowl of mustard on the floor, but didn't even notice. "At the Clinic we treat people who imagine that they are sick with Scrofulungus or Spattergroit or their toe hurts and I can't give potions to a man who really needs them ?!"
"Hermione, what do you want me to do ... I tell you how it is. And yet you will not argue with the dementors!"
Ginny hugged her reassuringly and squeezed her arm.
"Prepare whatever is needed. And you'll take some today, and some next time, if you don't get him out by tomorrow."
The girl sighted and looked at Harry.
"So how do we do today?"
"Come here after work. Not earlier. First, I don't know if I can get you a pass this morning and second, let's not arouse suspicion."
Hermione nodded and rose slowly from the table.
"My God, Kreacher, I'm sorry!" She cried as she saw the house elf cleaning the floor and saw a lump on his forehead. "And sorry for yesterday, too! I did not want!"
She touched his arm gently, as if afraid he would push her away, but Kreacher gave her an exhilarated look.
"You is not worry" Nothing happened to Kreacher!" He assured her and tears glistened in his huge eyes. "You is felt unwell yesterday!"
"But that doesn't mean I had a right to hurt you."
"Kreacher is brave and nothing hurts him."
"At least let me help you and clean up here."
"You is not to clean!"
"... so I'll go and arrange the room..."
"Kreacher is go with you!"
They both left the kitchen and it looked a bit like they were racing which one would first enter the room upstairs. For a moment Harry and Ginny could hear the elf running up the stairs and Hermione's slower footsteps.
Harry followed them with his eyes.
"Kreacher is brave. Kreacher is super-elf", he laughed and immediately became serious.
St. Mungo's
08:00
In the Emergency Room, there was even greater stuffiness, crowds and noise as usual. Some of the sick people sat on lopsided chairs with rickety legs, most stood against the wall or trotted in place, others sat directly on the ground. Some of them were accompanied by their family who, especially the older women, cried over them, tried to summon Healers and interns and this way created even more mess.
A half-naked man, hissing, tried to tear out spikes from his torso and his back, skinny witch kept falling from her chair over and over again, unable to control her dancing legs and hands, an old, bearded man with a tired face giggled and held tightly his sore stomach. Right next to him, another older man swung from side to side, holding his head and squeezing his eyes shut.
„Second floor, hold on to the railing. Next!" The Healer exclaimed, pointing the future mother upstairs.
A young wizard stepped forward, almost lied down on the counter and slowly the entire line moved forward.
"Problems with speaking, aches and pains, broken limbs?" recited the Healer by heart.
"I have a headache" the boy gasped. "Very strong".
"Did you take dragon scales? Pain relief potion? Viper venom tincture?"
"And dragon scales ... and a potion. A lot. But it still hurts. Terrible."
The very plump witch behind him snorted disdainfully.
"Men don't know what is pain. Go to the Women's Ward and whatever hurts you, will stop immediately" she muttered.
The Healer sent her a warning look and looked closely at the boy.
"Someone hit you with a spell? You fell down from your broom last month? No? Have you traveled the Portkey outside of England?"
The boy shook his head with a soft groan. The Healer shrugged and wrote something down in the huge book.
"Sit down in the corridor behind that door over there" she pointed to the door to the left. "I'll send someone with a strong pain relief potion."
"Only that?"
"It will definitely help" the Healer assured him. "What you buy in pharmacies is much weaker than what we have. Then go home and get some sleep."
The boy muttered something and walked away shuffling.
"You might as well cut off his head" said the plump witch, moving forward.
"Problems with spea... Pains, broken limbs?"
"I shed" the woman explained, running her hand through her thick hair and pulling out a large handful. "Since yesterday morning."
Merlin's pants ...
"Does something hurt you?"
"No. But I do shed."
The Healer tapped her wand on the head.
"Then cut them off. Next!"
.,.
The boy pushed the door and entered a small, square corridor where a wizard was already sitting on a chair. They both looked at each other and recognition flashed in their eyes.
„Did we… meet together?" The other asked.
The boy slumped on the vacant chair and looked at him carefully.
"I think ... we had dinner yesterday At Grandma Kirke.
They sat in silence for a moment, then the boy asked.
"Are you feeling bad too?"
"The head is fucking me."
"Me too."
"Bloody hell. What a shit did they give us?"
.,.
Hermione arrived on the third floor just before eight. She changed into a clean robe in an instant, changed her shoes and adjusted her makeup so that nobody saw how tired she was. When she glanced at Ginny's mirror, she had the impression ... no, she felt! as if she was ten years older.
Top 10 – short, ten-minute meeting of all starting and leaving the shift, was in the Healers' room, at the very end of the corridor. On her way, Hermione saw a small child in the Duck Room and her heart ached. The sight of little patients always affected her more than the adults. Mathias immediately followed her and closed the door.
"Hello to everyone" he said and leaned against the table. "What do we have today. In One, unchanged, in Two today we discharge a man after eating Lobalug. In Three we have an old man who is convulsed with laughter, Ang, take care of him, please. In the Duck Room, there is six-year-old boy, he arrived this night, with headache and stomachache, he just started to vomit" he pointed to the dirty edge of his robe. "Violet broke four bottles of sparkling orangeade in the warehouse, watch out if any of you go there, I don't want to find you at Artefact Accidents." A few people laughed briefly, Mathias glanced at a piece of parchment and added. "Today arrive urgent deliveries of Powell's Jaw-Relaxing Potion and Gagging Elixir from Alex..."
"They'll let us know, I hope?" Dylis interjected.
"They will, of course they will. Do you have anything else?"
"There's a light failure in the women's bathroom" Barney said, the only man on the shift except Mathias and all the women gave him strange looks. "One of the cristal bubble attacks female patients." "Go to Beirut and ask them to check it" Mathias decided immediately.
During few next minutes everyone was reporting problems, asking how the issues from previous days were solved and Hermione stopped listening to them and smiled slightly.
When she came to the clinic and on the first day they told her to "Go to Beirut", she asked if there were any portkeys at her disposal or if she should Apparate, which amused everyone. And then it turned out that "Beirut" was simply a Technical Service office. And the only connection with Beirut was that there was an unearthly mess there and someone associated it with Beirut. Just like they had Elephant Boxes, that in fact was very big warehouse of bed linen, hygiene materials and empty vials, bottles and jars, which was separated by tall walls, just likes like boxes for big animals.
A normal, ordinary day began and she decided to focus on it. In the afternoon she would go wherever she had to go, but now, when she knew how it was like there, it will be much easier.
"Hermione, please stay" Mathias' voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
The meeting ended and everyone began to leave, so she obediently stayed and waited for the last person to leave the room. Mathias closed the door with tensed face.
"When was the last time you were at Powell's?"
"A few days ago" she replied after thinking. "What, he called me?"
"No" there was no relief in his answer. "Do you have any news on that lab technician? Who died a few weeks ago?"
Hermione wondered for a moment what she knew officially and what she could say. She started to confuse everything.
„N-not much. Aurors have resumed their investigation ... but I don't know more."
Mathias cursed softly under his breath.
"That little boy ..." He shook his head sadly. „Michael and I examined him and ... it looks the same."
The girl immediately stiffened and felt her heart pounding inside her.
"Oh my God..."
Ministry of Magic, Auror Headquarters
Around 09:00
Rewriting a long report from one of the previous investigations for the third time and glancing from time to time towards Roger and Paul's cubicles Harry wondered how to play out today.
Of course, as it happens in life, the plan he had planned for today went to hell.
The most important thing was to check the Wizengamot case register. He could go to the Administration Service office on the same Level, but the office was always full of people, so not wanting anyone to see him, he decided to go down to the Wizengamot Arbitration Hall on Level 10. It was usually empty, but there was a hearing this morning. Just this morning! Shit.
He wanted to look at Gawain's papers, but Gawain hadn't arrived yet, so his office was locked.
Today he had to create a pass for Hermione too, but to do so, he had to lock himself in for half an hour in the Workshop - the room where they made them. So he should wait until there was nobody in Headquarters. But as if out of spite, bloody Paul was sitting and praying in his cubicle over some stupid papers.
Besides, he calculated that his doubt had to be clarified by eight in the evening. Either Gawain is innocent - then he has to explain everything to him, and they both have to prepare Regalium and get Snape out of Azkaban, or he is guilty and then ...
Harry unconsciously clenched his fists.
Then go to plan B.
He still hadn't finalized Plan B, but he had a long discussion with Ginny during the night and they figured out that they could get Snape out of Azkaban using the Sirius' and Crouch's method. But instead of sacrificing a person's life, they decided to sacrifice an animal.
Harry was going to go to prison with Hermione and the animal, in the cell Hermione was going to transfigure Snape into it and they were going to run as fast as they could before the Dementors realized.
For this he needed an animal, preferably a big one, that could FEEL. This was what Ginny would do – find it and she decided not to go to work today. He also needed two extra wands. And the next Regalium. And all this today, before midnight.
Madness. This was even more childish plan than sneaking into the Ministry a few years ago, but they had no choice. They came out alive then, so he hoped they could make it a second time.
Sometimes he imagined Ginny bringing a monkey home and he wanted to laugh his head off, but then he realized what he was trying to do and he was terrified.
When it will eventually come out ... In fact, he could already packing up his bags and looking for Aunt Petunia's phone number.
And who is it for! For Snape! Merlin, you must be completely crazy by now!
Suddenly Harry found he hadn't heard any sounds for a long time. He straightened up, as if he had woken up from sleep and listened intently to the silence around him.
Maybe he's finally gone and you can stop worrying about him?
He got up with a loud shuffle in his chair, stretched until his bones crackled and started to leave. And with each step he moved closer to Paul's cubicle. A few more steps... Unconsciously he sped up. It looks empty ... Two steps more ...
Suddenly he heard the sound of parchment curling into a roll and with the next step the silhouette of Auror appeared before him. Damn it.
„Heavy-duty job today?" Somehow Harry managed to smile. "I'm going to the canteen, maybe they have something to eat there, get you something?"
Paul gave him a tired look and shook his head.
"Thanks. I am not hungry. Sorry, I have a lot of work to do."
Harry nodded and trudged to the door.
Oh, damn you!
It was going to be a very long day, it seemed. And at the same time terribly short.
Ministry of Magic
11:00 am
Atrium, Dispatch Department
Josh pushed the door with his shoulder, levitated a bag stuffed with letters onto the table and lowered it with a thud. The side seam tore another two inches and with a loud rustle the entire bundle of envelopes fell to the ground and scattered apart.
"You're not playing games with me," Josh warned them.
The envelopes didn't move, so he whipped his wand and, levitating them into the air, grabbed them one by one, walked over to a large box with dozens of compartments and began sorting them.
In less than a second he read the name or designation of the recipient and at the same time put the envelope in the correct compartment. He didn't need to look at them; he knew their arrangement by heart, so the colored envelopes just flashed in his hands as if birds of paradise fluttered in them.
The bundle of enveloppes was decreased at an amazing rate and after a few seconds it was completely gone. Josh reached for next ones and, with a soft whir, another herd of birds of paradise flew to their nests.
It was the part of the day he liked best.
Two minutes later the bag was empty. Josh smiled at the envelopes in the box and rubbed the temples of his sore head.
„One to zero, dears. As always, I'm the best."
Now he had to deliver them to the relevant departments. Putting the bundles of enveloppes into right places he checked the senders from time to time. It's hard to say why he chose certain enveloppes; sometimes it was the color of the envelopes that draw his attention, sometimes the handwriting, occasionally the smell of paper. In case of perfumed envelopes, red ink or elegant, swirling letters, he tried to imagine how beautiful this woman could be. When the handwriting was shaky or tilted left, he had the impression that the sender was some kind of despot.
Once the letter was the color of burnt brick and it smelled of savannah and Josh almost heard the roar of the lion as he held it to his ear.
Today he was interested in very thick beige envelope, on which it was written in elegant letters:
Mme Oktavia Banks,
Ministère de la Magie, Section d'Authorisation et Regulation, Departament d'Education
Angleterre, Londre,
"Heally not hahd to ghuess," he said aloud, trying to imitate his French accent. "Vehy intehesting… Fhom whom?"
Intrigued, he turned the envelope and this time his language skills proved insufficient. The top of the envelope was written:
Magasin Central d'Ingredients de Classe A et B pour Europe de l'Ouest.
Carcassonne, France
"Indeed, vehy intehesting…"
St. Mungo's
3rd floor - Poisoning Ward
At the same time
Danny was moved to a tiny room where the more intimate exams was usually done. First, Mathias did not want to cause confusion and panic and second, he could bring in all the experienced Healers who were now trying to figure out how to help the child beyond giving him pain relief potions.
Hermione knew. She was sure the little one had drunk the same poison the killer had given the Muggles and she was sure she could heal him. They had an antidote at Spinner's End that should be usable for a long time.
Given the boy's condition, it was necessary to hurry, so she slipped discreetly from the circle of debating Healers, stepped outside and quietly closed...
"Hermione?" She heard right next to the ear and jumped up with surprise.
"Maggy, you scared me !" She clutched at her chest.
The Healer, who was on duty in the Emergency Room, handed her a sheet of parchment, written in a small, narrow handwriting.
"I'm looking for Mathias, but you can be too. I do not know what's going on. Since the morning we have already been contacted by thirteen patients complaining of a terrible headache. The first ones to whom we gave our potion and sent them home have returned and now they say their stomach hurts. And some started vomiting red."
If the Earth had crashed with a crack at her feet, it couldn't have been worse. Feeling her weakness, the girl leaned against the wall.
"Yes ... Maggy? And what...?"
"Then prepare a lot of beds cause I'll be sending them here" Maggy replied dryly. "I don't know about you, but I suspect they had food poisoning."
Then she spun on her heel and walked briskly towards the stairs, leaving Hermione with suddenly dry mouth.
Merlin, what's that supposed to mean ?!
A moment ago she suspected that Danny must have been to Muggles and had accidentally eaten something the killer had left there. But on the same day it happened by accident to thirteen other people ...?
My God, could it be ... No. It is impossible.
She was afraid to say aloud what came to her mind. It's like Saying It made It come true. And so far, as it was not said, it could be denied.
God, please, I want to wake up.
The room door opened, a group of Healers emerged and Hermione understood one more thing. That she had to make a decision. Should she give the boy an antidote and have nothing left in case ... the same thing happened to someone else, More Important? In other words, whether to sacrifice a strange little child at the expense of someone she might have known.
She walked slowly ahead, though she did not know where and for what she was going. With each step, the floor seemed to ripple as if on the high seas and as she walked, she tried to focus on each tile.
„Hermione?"
„Yes, Maggy?" She turned with a sigh of resignation. What else?
But it wasn't Maggy who stood in front of her, but Sebastian Kelly.
"Beauty, I came by for a while, I hope I'm not disturbing you?" The boy asked with a smile. "You look tired."
"Oh, of course not" the girl waved and the floor danced violently.
Kelly took Hermione's waist and held her against him.
"Tired and worried. I'm not wrong? Poor thing."
The boy stroked her head and Hermione suddenly felt herself burst into tears. She was fed up, she was just fed up with everything!
His soft voice and touch were warm and soothing and, led by some strange reflex, she pressed her face against his shoulder, hiding from the world.
"Excuse me. It's been a bit ... hard lately."
"Don't apologize, darling, you don't have to. Sometimes the life is like this but you'll see, soon the sun will shine."
She nodded and, swallowing her tears, forced a smile.
"Thank you. Really." She stepped back slightly. "Something happened? That you are coming?"
"I have good news. I'm sure you will enjoy it!"
"Yes? What's this news?"
"Leoncius told us Snape quit his job" Kelly's face flashed with joy. "So I thought ... I will tell you about it. Now you can come to us for inspection without problems and you do not have to be afraid that you will run into this ... git!"
Hermione managed to hide grimace on her face for a moment longer.
"Thank you for the news."
Now get out of here, asshole.
She stepped away from Kelly and looked at her watch ostentatiously.
"Merlin, I have to go! Thank you again!" She called, waved his hand at him and started in the opposite direction to the stairs.
"See you soon!" Kelly said after her.
He passed the fat man sitting on the chair with a satisfied expression and ran downstairs. The fat man got up heavily and followed him.