Wow...has it really been that long? Though my muse is still being uncooperative, I am struggling through this story in hopes to give it closure.
Disclaimer: I once again proclaim that I do not own Harry Potter or any character that appears in those books. I do lay claim to the Snarky Goddess of Love Miranda and a mousetrap laying Death.
Chapter 40
"Have any trouble getting here?" Madam Bones asked as Harry and Hermione along with Tonks took a seat in her office.
"Outside of a bloody phoenix appearing out of nowhere in Remus' room?" Tonks replied with a snort. "Had us all going for our wands until we realized it was just these two making a grand appearance."
"Phoenix?" The Director of Magical Law Enforcement asked as she turned a quizzical gaze upon Harry and Hermione.
"Dumbledore still has reservations about the Floo," Hermione added at the questioning look from Amelia. "He asked us to allow Fawkes take us to St. Mungos. Of course we still had to floo from there to here, but that was through the new place."
"We are fairly sure we've got the Floo issue taken care of," Amelia explained. "The Director of Magical Travel was under the Imperious. She was freed from it when we traversed the new Goblin entrance." She picked up a piece of parchment and then continued. "We've also found several other victims including three of my aurors. As they are questioned, they are leading us to He… I mean Voldemort's supporters and other victims. Your suggestion about that entryway just might have given us that chance we needed to protect our own."
"Just glad the thought occurred to me," Hermione replied.
"Do we know how it works?" Tonks asked. She had been impressed with the entryway.
"And that, Auror Tonks is not a question you will ever ask again," Madam Bones said as she glared at the young Auror. "Is that understood?"
"Eh…yes Ma'am," Tonks replied hesitantly.
"That entrance is important and we will not offend the Goblins by trying to unravel their magic," Amelia continued. "I don't want it even casually talked about. In fact you will let me know if you find anyone who is trying to find out that information. Do you understand?"
"Yes Ma'am," Tonks replied immediately this time.
"Good, now I'd like a complete understanding of what happened yesterday that led up to when we found you," Madam Bones instructed.
The next two hours were spent going over what happened. Harry and Hermione only described the morning as "Going with Dumbledore to explore something that ended up with the Headmaster injured." They skipped over the meal in the Room of Requirements as well. Finally after Tonks gave her account of searching for Harry and Hermione only to have them walk in on her when she had run out of places to look, Amelia sat back and nodded.
"Now Auror Tonks, we must discuss your actions in disregarding my orders." The head of the DMLE stated. "But before I decide on that, I would like to know about Mister Lupin's prognosis?"
"Eh…he…eh…," Tonks stammered at the sudden change of conversation. She then swallowed and continued. "He will be released from St. Mungo's tomorrow or the next day and then they are recommending five days of bed rest after that."
"Glad to know he is getting better." Madam Bones said. "Now, back to your actions; do you agree that you did not follow my orders concerning Mr. Potter?"
"Yes...ma'am," Tonks replied as she looked nervously at her boss.
"She didn't have a choice," Harry started. "We made…."
"Mr. Potter, my auror was given a direct order and in both yours and her accounts, it appears there was plenty of opportunity for her to re-establish control of the situation." Amelia replied before turning her attention back to Tonks and spoke in a clear commanding voice. "Auror Tonks… for your actions of deliberately disobeying a direct order yesterday, I am suspending you for seven days without pay," Madam Bones replied. "Though because of these tenuous times of unrest, I require you to check in via floo twice a day during that time to see if you are needed; is that understood?"
"Uh…yes Ma'am," Tonks replied as her eyes widened.
"Then I think you can begin your suspension now," Amelia replied. "You can send Sirius here to escort the Potters to where they are staying or I can find Shacklebolt."
"Yes Ma'am," Tonks replied again as she stood up.
"I did notice you have enough leave available to cover this time," Amelia added. "You are more than welcome to request leave pay for those days."
Tonks nodded as she walked to the door. As she opened it, she turned back and said. "Thank you ma'am."
Amelia Bones only nodded at her young Auror.
Once the door was closed, Hermione asked. "Did you just order her to take care of Remus?"
"Of course not," Madam Bones replied with a wink. "Such actions would surely lead to accusations of favoritism. I clearly just suspended her because she failed in her duty to protect the two of you, going against a direct order. Now tell me about yesterday. Did you secure the ring?"
"Yes we did," Harry replied, "and just stopped Dumbledore from putting it on. That's how he got injured. Even though he told us to stay behind when he went into the hut, we followed a couple of minutes behind him. He was already caught in the compulsion when we caught up to him. Hermione and I realized the only way to stop him in time was to hex him. We ended up breaking all of the bones in his hands and vanishing the bones in his legs."
"Fortunately we were in time and he will be fine," Hermione added. "We also had a very informative talk with him earlier. We got him to tell us about Harry being a Horcrux and that he believes Harry will live through another Killing Curse by Voldemort to get rid of it."
"And young Miss Weasley?"
"Both the Weasley parents and Dumbledore have agreed that she needs psychological help," Hermione replied. "I'm going to do a bit of research of places that would offer the help she needs and are located far away from here."
"Can I help?" Amelia asked. "I can make a query to St. Mungos about quality facilities they may know about around the world."
"That would be appreciated," Hermione replied. "I would like this done very soon before Mrs. Weasley talks herself out of this."
The next couple of hours were spent discussing how things were progressing, but finally they were interrupted by Minister Fudge barging in.
"Amelia, what is this about my floo being shut down?" Fudge demanded. "And a new Goblin controlled entryway?"
"It is a new defensive measure for this building," Amelia replied evenly. "I found out that the Goblins have means to detect and reverse both Polyjuice and Imperious. After negotiations, with the help of Mr. Potter here," She nodded at the Boy-Who-Lived, "they have agreed to provide an entryway that will defend this building from those types of subversion."
"At what cost?" Fudge demanded.
"A lot less than losing this war to Voldemort," Madam Bones replied evenly.
"Tell me Minister," Hermione added. "What cost do you place on a good man's life, or a person being forced to undermine the Ministry he works so hard for?"
"Yes…well…fine," Fudge said. "Just get my floo back online. I don't have time for this nonsense."
"Of course Minister," Amelia replied. "But if you floo is going to be the only one open, then I better assign at least five aurors to be in your office at all times as well as another five to follow you everywhere you go with orders to take you down by any means necessary if you start acting strangely. I mean once that information comes out that you have the only floo into the Ministry that bypasses the enhanced security, surely You-Know-Who will be coming after you so his followers can have access to the Ministry once again."
Cornelius' faced turned a sickly green as he swallowed.
"Then again if you were to publicly acknowledge the importance of the facility; proclaiming that you yourself will be using it as well, then You-Know-Who would have no reason to try to imperious you or kidnap you and try to send someone in polyjuiced as you since it would fail." Amelia continued with a smile. "It would also provide a good example to the good men and women who work here; showing them that you care about their safety."
"Eh…yeah…excellent idea," Fudge said. "It's only a minor inconvenience, isn't it. Good for morale and safety. I…I think I need to return to my office…and…." He didn't finish his sentence as he turned and left Amelia's office.
Madam Bones turned to Harry and Hermione and shared a smile. "Sometime he does listen, especially when it's his own neck that is being protected."
"We should be returning to…the place we're staying," Hermione said and she stood.
Before Amelia stood as well but before she could reply, her secretary knocked on the door and poked her head in. "Ma'am, this box arrived for Mr. Potter in care of this office."
"Who is it from?"
"Eh…it was delivered by a Goblin who said it was from Ragnok himself," The secretary replied in a tone that made it sound like she didn't believe it. "It will not open for me, but I did performed the normal scans and it doesn't appear dangerous though."
Madam Bones glanced at Harry and Hermione. They all shared the same hope about what was in the package. She then turned back to her secretary. "Place it on the table. Thank you." Once the secretary had departed, Madam Bones ran her own magical detection charms on the package before she was satisfied.
Harry tried to lift the lid, but it refused to budge. "How do we open it?" He asked.
"There must be some clue to how to open it," Hermione said as she started to examine the box. As she was running her finger over one of the sides, she felt an irregularity. "It…its a hidden opening." She felt a little more. It's mostly round but one side has a rectangular opening."
In what would normally appear to be reversed ways of doing things, while Hermione tried various spells and physical manipulations to try to open the box, Harry grabbed a quill and parchment from Madam Bones desk and drew a circle and a rectangle. After a minute or two of staring at it, and idea came to him and he merged the two shapes together and then smiled. He lifted the drawing up and said "Hermione, what do you see?"
Hermione looked up from the box and after only a second or two replied. "A Keyhole…of course. That would be the only way he could have made sure you were the one to open it. They would have your key on record so it would be easy to create a lock that only your Gringotts' key can open."
Harry took his key from his mokeskin pouch and with Hermione indicating where the keyhole was by putting a finger above and below the openings, he slid the key into the box and turned. With an audible click, the lid of the box lifted and revealed a small gold cup with a badger on it. The cup itself had been cleaved half-way through by some sharp weapon.
"The Horcrux?" Amelia asked though she already knew the answer having seen it in the teens' memories.
"Yes," Hermione replied as she lifted the cup out of the box. Only then did they notice a piece of parchment stuffed into it. Pulling the parchment out they found it was a note which she read out loud.
Thank you for the most enlightening adventure. If you happen to have more Basilisk venom, I'm willing to pay handsomely for it. Though I took the finest blades that my people have ever made into that Vault only the blade you gifted me was able to overcome the magic protecting the cup. Also consider my requirements for an adequate deposit against the cup no longer necessary. Ms. Lestrange has put several curses on the items in her vault that placed the lives of my people in danger. I have declared that every single piece of treasure with such curses that affect my people is subject to confiscation. With the current number of my people who are lined up outside of the Lestrange vault waiting for chance to "accidentally" touch one of these treasures, I doubt anything will be left in the vault by the time you receive this note.
Also please inform Madam Bones that I am pleased with the early reports from the new entry location. If they continue to be as equally pleasing in the days to come, I m willing to further negotiate with her on other concerns.
Ragnok.