Wheels Within Wheels – Part Three
Iolanthe
Chapter Eighteen
Collapse and Aftermath
Breakfast was not subdued at all. Harry had assurances everyone would be out of Greengrass Manor expeditiously. Kendra, Daphne and Iolanthe were going to spend a little time together at #12 Grimmauld Place before traveling to pick out art in Utica. The trip was planned to go through Torshavn, where Fabio would be serving tea to some harvesters of lichen breath. Harry planned to go by floo to the flat, whence he would make one or two public appearances in the neighborhood, just to give anyone who was interested a chance to briefly get a fix on his location.
Harry accomplished his planned siting opportunities. Back at the flat he checked his watch and used the floo to get to the ministry. His new department was not in the ministry proper. It had a building nearby that was camouflaged at ground level with a combination muggle bookstore and espresso bar flanked by a pasty shop. A nondescript pedestrian door set at an angle in the corner of the structure was the only indication the building was anything other than a London business block with offices or apartments on the upper floors. The door incorporated a peculiar bit of magic that caused it to disappear when anyone, muggle or wizard, looked directly at it.
Harry got a coffee to go from the espresso bar and walked along the front of the building, turning into the doorway when he got to the corner, being careful to keep his eyes averted. Oddly enough, his hand went directly to the door handle without any looking on his part.
There was a long desk just inside, staffed by a white-haired gentleman in a tail coat, wing collar and pearl necktie.
"Mr. Potter!" he said. "Welcome. Are you officially here? We weren't informed, please forgive us for not preparing a proper reception. My name is Jubal."
"Is it really?" Harry asked.
"No," the man said, sounding just a bit put out, "The name goes with the position. For some reason, anyone who takes this job becomes Jubal."
"Could be worse, I suppose," Harry speculated. "Ham, Jezebel, Melchizedek…"
"Very kind of you to say so, sir," Jubal said, brightening up immediately. "The Head of Department left instructions to send you right on up. Do you know the way to his office?"
"I do," Harry said, wondering to himself how Slughorn had anticipated his movements.
"Feel free to go then, sir," Jubal said. "You're the Head of Department-designate and you have the freedom of the building."
Harry liked the arrangement personally but wondered about the security ramifications.
Slughorn's outer office staff rose when he entered. Harry could see everyone expected him to make the rounds, so he kept his impatience in check, shaking all the hands and trying to put names with faces. When he was finished Slughorn appeared at the door to the inner office and motioned him in.
"Thought you'd be here," Slughorn said, ushering him in.
"All I wanted was a cubbyhole and a floo," Harry said. "As long as I'm here, though, I can give you an update."
"Let's do that," Slughorn said, sitting down and motioning Harry to a chair. "I see you brought your own sustenance."
"This is really good," Harry said of his coffee. "All those years wasted drinking ministry cafeteria blend.
"Anyway, I stopped by to see Blaise last night. He shared my concerns about the longer-term effects. He didn't have any new information but promised to look into it."
"Ragnak was waiting for me by the fireplace in the little room. We talked through the issue, which the bank has been following for some time, and I was informed the bank officers' consensus is the further de-regulation of exchange arrangements is a threat to the magical world, a view I share. I noted it might be time to use the liaison channel between Gringotts and the muggle Treasury to express his concern."
"Very good, Harry," Slughorn said. "Now, here are some things your friends have sent over, anticipating your arrival, which I've just taken the liberty of throwing together in this folder. To summarize, the consensus is Lenard Nott and Georges Lestrange seem to be the principals in the scheme, there may be others who see parts but probably not all, and the analysts in this building do not have information that contradicts what Ron, Hermione and Blaise have provided, nor the conclusions you've reached on your own.
"You'll be fixed up with some space now, and regular reports. Take your coffee. Sit back and enjoy the show."
"This way, Mr. Potter," said one of the outer office staff before conducting him to a modest office with a desk, a chair, and two guest chairs. There was no filing cabinet, nor did Harry see In and Out boxes. He hypothesized that occupants of that particular space had instant access to assistants with better filing and distribution skills than his, so all he had to do with any parchment generated under his hand was call for someone who'd know just where to send it, or save it, as the case may be.
Harry walked around the office, sipping his coffee. He opened an interior door and saw that he had a private bathroom. Another was a door for a closet with a bar, wooden hangers, and a shelf.
He had just completed his tour when a staff member delivered a file folder. He sat down in the swivel chair behind the desk and opened the file. There were several sheets of paper with terse situation reports along the lines of "Serious Fraud Office delivers Notification of Suspicious Activity and Suspension of Trading" and "Accounts Frozen" for divisions of Nott and Lestrange companies. Taken altogether, the actions represented serious blows to any company, regardless of size.
Harry hadn't followed up with his travelers, and it seemed the prudent thing to do, to at least floo-call Greengrass Manor and #12 Grimmauld Place and determine if all was regular at both locations. Better yet, he thought, might be a quick trip to #12, and a short debrief there, with perhaps a check-in with Fabio to confirm he'd gotten to Torshavn as planned.
Harry got the location of a floo network fireplace from the staff in the outer office, advised he'd be back after a short excursion, and took the floo directly to #12. Exiting the fireplace in the salon, Harry listened for voices, heard some, and followed them down the hall to Daphne's study. The door was open, and Harry was about to knock on the wooden trim when Iolanthe shouted, "DA-DA!"
Daphne, Kendra and Iolanthe were all in the study, a little duffle at Daphne's feet, packed and ready for departure. It took little time to confirm that Fabio had gotten off to Torshavn and the trio would be leaving shortly.
"I need to make a suggestion," Harry said.
"I'm sure we'd like to hear that," said Daphne.
"You might want to take an extra day in Utica. Actually, once you're in the States, you could take an extra day anywhere," Harry said, as the afterthought occurred to him.
"The thing is…" he began, or tried to.
"You've kicked a hornets' nest, haven't you?" Daphne asked.
"Not exactly," Harry said, sounding a bit defensive. "There are some regulatory and police bodies that took a closer look at some businesses, law firms and so on, and found cause for a bit of official action to protect the public."
"Georges Lestrange's firm among them, of course," Daphne said, exchanging a quick look with Kendra.
"Yes, so," Harry said, "Lestrange could, possibly, associate his dispute with Fabio over the Greengrass enterprises, and with me, someone who poked his nose into Lestrange's business affairs, with the official bodies' actions today. Thus, it occurred to me that the three of you, who have done nothing to call you to his attention, could take a girls' overnight to Marigold's and gorge on room service, or whatever catches your attention."
"Harry Potter," said Kendra and Daphne together. There followed two overlapping soliloquies, each attempting to show Harry how his position failed the reasonable person test. Harry stood his ground until Iolanthe climbed onto his lap, took two handfuls of shirt and said, "Da-da, NO!"
"So there," said Daphne.
"Right," Harry said. "I stand corrected. However, I want you to consider bringing everyone here when you come back. All of us can be comfortable, we'll be able to support each other in case of trouble, and #12 likes this sort of thing."
Harry tried not to, but his eyes just had to glance at Walburga's portrait. She didn't say anything, but she nodded once and gave him an approving look.
"Once we've established that all is quiet and regular, we'll go on. Maybe a picnic at Potter Manor, if the weather is favorable," Harry continued. "We'll walk through the house and discuss the options for the most tasteful distribution."
The last was over the top but the adult witches let that pass, exchanging "Mm-hmm" sounds and seeming to be in agreement that Harry'd suggested something that really would be a smashingly good use of their time.
"Now, can I see you off to Torshavn?" Harry asked.
"Do you have something to get back to?" Daphne asked.
"Me?" responded Harry. "I'm unemployed."
"Actually, Daphne, I think Harry's suggestion is very well-reasoned. If we have everyone here, there's no going back and forth, no floo-calls every fifteen minutes, and this house…Well, it's a fort, isn't it?" Kendra observed.
"Fine," Daphne said. "We'll be your hosts for a change. Let's see…Kreacher?"
"Kreacher is here, Mistress," Kreacher said when he'd materialized with a little 'pop.'
"Kreacher," Daphne said, "it looks like we may be coming back this evening to spend the night with Father and Mother here at #12, so if you could just make sure they have a room ready and freshened up, and a little extra for all of us for breakfast tomorrow morning."
"Of course, Mistress," Kreacher replied. "Everything will be ready."
"Isn't she something?" Harry asked Kendra after Kreacher returned to the kitchen. Kendra gave Harry a wink, and he stood up.
"I'd like to get you on your way, now, please," Harry said. "Give my best to Fabio. Stay in touch."
Harry had carried Iolanthe in his arms as he tried to herd the witches toward the small fireplace. Kendra took the duffle and went first, after floo-calling Fabio's office to confirm he was there and they could come through. Harry switched Iolanthe to Daphne's arms and gave them both a kiss before Daphne dropped her floo powder and declared her destination to be 'Greengrass Torshavn.'
Harry's first inhalation following the 'WHOOSH' of the green flames had a little catch in it, but the moment passed, and he called out to Kreacher that he was leaving, then entered the salon to use the fireplace in there.
Harry realized he hadn't gotten his new building's floo addresses, so he went to the ministry, intending to take the short walk to his building when Ron Weasley intercepted him crossing the atrium.
"Harry!" Ron began, obviously excited. "Have you heard?"
Harry considered Ron's question.
"One wouldn't know, would one?" he countered. "Could you be more specific?"
"The law firm where Lenard Nott parks his robe, the muggle firm, I mean, represented some unsavory characters," Ron began. "No surprise. Unsavory characters need lawyers under our system, don't they?"
Harry agreed, wondering just where Ron was headed.
"The firm got raided this morning. The muggle firm. Ministry Serious Fraud has sealed his magical files preparatory to seizing them," Ron said. "Georges Lestrange has a warehouse in the customs bond compound with all kinds of disillusionment and who knows what other kinds of charms, and it was raided by the ministry, including some of your old crew, and it looks like he has been trading lots and lots of contraband and counterfeits. They're a mess, both of them. This is just the first few hours."
"You know they'll tie it up in court for months, years, maybe," Harry said.
"True, but they won't be able to do what they've been doing," Ron said. "At the very least the disruption is going to be very costly. So, well-done, Harry. It's been going on all along, and you put the pieces together so someone could finally do something about it."
"Ron, please," Harry said. "I asked a question. Your time in the stacks was the key. Once the reform plan was seen in the light of Nott's client list, and that put together with Lestrange's fixation on Fabio's little but well-located operations, the rest just fell into place."
"Oh," Ron said. "Well, then. Buy you a coffee? Tea?"
"Have to go to outside for maybe half an hour," Harry said. "Right here in thirty minutes?"
"Of course," Ron said.
Harry checked his watch, because he really wanted to be back a few minutes early. A cup of tea or coffee with Ron was very high on his priority list in unsettled times. They could compare notes and complement one another's thinking, often seeing things when they put their heads together that they had missed flying solo.
Everything was moving along nicely on the police activity. Preliminary inspection of documents indicated tax evasion charges, at the very least, would be forthcoming for both Nott and Lestrange. If that were the extent of the criminality, the records would still reveal much more about the financial connections between multiple entities that had been successful in concealing the scope of their activities from oversight for years. Harry looked at the updated situation reports that had arrived after he'd left for #12. He also looked through the documents Slughorn had passed on from Ron, Hermione and Blaise.
Taken together, the reports gave Harry a synopsized view of the scheme Lestrange and Nott had developed to incorporate the magical economy into their international tax avoidance and corruption-abetting enterprise. They'd gotten very close to putting it all together. Harry hoped they'd at least be distracted enough by their legal woes to lack time for similar efforts for the foreseeable future.
"These can be destroyed," Harry said as he entered the outer office. One of the staff accepted the folder and turned toward the fireplace. "I'll be going to the ministry, probably for thirty or forty minutes. Is Mr. Slughorn here?"
"No, sir, returned to Hogwarts a short while ago," volunteered one of the staff.
"I'll be back soon," Harry advised, leaving the suite.
Harry loitered in the ministry atrium for a few minutes before Ron arrived. A few people nodded as they passed by, although none spoke.
"Where to?" Ron asked as he walked up. "Cafeteria?"
"Let's go out," Harry said. "I found a little café…"
Harry led the way and soon had them both fixed up with a cup of excellent coffee.
"Walk?" Harry asked.
"Good day for it," Ron replied.
They made the coffee last for three blocks out and back. Exhausting the case and what they knew of the investigation to that point, they prepared to split up back in the atrium.
"Be careful, Harry," Ron said. "Nott is a lawyer. He's calculating how to minimize damage, or at least mitigate it, right now. Lestrange leans toward criminality. At the very least he's a smuggler and dealer in purloined antiquities. That's already established. He's not in custody, either. Does the new job come with some security?"
"Haven't gotten to that yet," Harry said. "I'd rather not have the people underfoot, but we'll see."
The subject came up again in the evening as the family returned from their day abroad. Fabio and Kendra arrived first, popping out of the fireplace in the salon. There was a pause and Harry heard a 'WHOOSH' coming from Daphne's study. Everyone congregated in the main hallway, talking over one another and asking for updates.
Kreacher had a tray of sandwiches and both hot and cold tea ready for the travelers. Daphne directed everyone to the dining room, asking Kreacher to bring the food there, along with some hot towels. Harry delivered a synopsis, as complete as he could be and stay in the public domain.
"It's not over, I'm afraid," Harry said. "Whether Lestrange connects his misfortune to Mr. Greengrass, or me, or not. He's at large. We need to be careful."
"People like him take the fun out of business," Fabio said.
"What happened in Utica?" Harry asked.
"We ran up a few galleons' tab," Daphne said. "Iolanthe has sunk her claws deeply into Uncle Larry and controlled his every movement. He's getting the paintings ready to ship and scrubbing his calendar for the earliest possible date to visit and hang art on our walls."
"It was a wonderful day, Harry," Kendra said. "Such a nice touch on your part to think of a pleasant way to send us into exile."
"I…really," Harry tried, but couldn't come up with a response.
No one had any desire to stay up and rehash the day any further, so bed time came fairly quickly.
Harry was up before anyone else and minimized his morning routine before departing for the department and an update on the Nott/Lestrange situation.
Harry greeted Jubal in the building lobby and headed up to his office. A file labeled 'Mr Potter' lay closed on his desk. The summaries inside were terse, but informative, synopses of the previous day's events. They ran a kind of spectrum from unannounced inspections that led to suspensions of activity, seizure of some records and sealing of others, to the seizure of an entire bonded warehouse that was found to be holding protected species, and artifacts that were sacrosanct as part of the national patrimony of several countries.
Lestrange and Nott had so many shady deals going on that just identifying all the questionable activities would keep investigators busy for a year or more. Harry read through twice, looking for some kind of disposition for the principals. Nott was in custody, although a short note at the bottom of a page stated he had asked for his legal counsel after stating that he would cooperate fully since he had done nothing illegal. Lestrange, on the other hand, was not accounted for.
A small number of staffers had arrived by the time Harry was done reading. He asked where he could destroy some documents and was shown a fireplace where he could safely cast incendio.
Reading done, Harry took his leave of the duty staff and headed for #12 Grimmauld Place. Everyone was awake except for Iolanthe, who was still feeling the effects of the previous day's over-full calendar.
After a late breakfast everyone departed for Potter Manor for a walk-through and art-hanging planning session. Fabio hadn't seen the new building in its current state of substantial completion, so Harry took him on a tour.
Catching up with the witches in the main floor salon, Fabio congratulated Daphne on her excellent design skills. Kreacher had sent cheese sandwiches and several bottles of mineral water, so everyone convened on the patio, which held the only furniture Harry and Daphne had purchased for the new family seat. Fabio and Kendra left after lunch to return to Greengrass Manor.
"Want to stay awhile?" Daphne asked.
"Sure," Harry said. "I might lean back in this chair, put my feet up, and take a little nap. This sunshine is quite the sleeping draught."
Daphne unzipped the duffle she'd brought, removed a blanket and spread it on the ground. Ever since Iolanthe was born, she and Daphne had enjoyed a little private ritual. Daphne would transform into a lynx, and Iolanthe would crawl all over her, curl up beside her, sometimes resting her head against the purring lynx while she drank from a bottle and stared into the distance with a thoughtful look on her face. Approximately thirty minutes later that was exactly how the Potter family was arranged when Harry heard a 'pop' in the distance somewhere and sat up in his chair.
It wasn't long before the source of the sound was apparent as Georges Lestrange strode into the grounds around Potter Manor, wand in hand, and called out Harry.
"Draw your wand, Potter," Lestrange shouted.
"That would be redundant, Lestrange," Harry called out, twisting his wrist so his wand was visible in front of him.
"You ruined a deal I've been working on for a year and got your ministry toadies to do the dirt for you!" Lestrange shouted.
"Whomever you've been talking to has led you astray, Lestrange," Harry said. "I'm unemployed, barely a reserve with the aurors now. Too many dustups to count. I'm washed up, invalided out. Send Ralph Mann an owl, if you don't believe me, or ask your solicitors to contact him."
Lestrange had attracted the attention of the other Potters present, but he was so focused on Harry it didn't appear he was aware of them. Iolanthe collected herself and started to stand up before the lynx put a paw on her shoulder and sat her back down on the blanket. The lynx gave a little growl and kept her paw on Iolanthe's back, ready to push her aside if necessary.
"Lestrange, if there is a warrant out for your arrest, why not disapparate, go to the ministry, and speak to someone? You'd probably get bonded out. If you want to fight this, you won't help your case by attacking me," Harry suggested.
Lestrange wasn't hearing what Harry had to say, though, and cast some kind of curse. Harry blocked it without a lot of trouble, and got ready to stand up, as it seemed Lestrange wanted to make a fight of it. Harry hadn't gotten to his feet, though, before Lestrange fell to the ground, screaming and shaking one of his legs. Harry was vaguely aware of Iolanthe saying something from her blanket, but his focus was on Lestrange. He didn't put the two together until it occurred to him that he was listening to some pretty complex sentences from his daughter. That meant he was hearing Iolanthe in parseltongue, in which she'd been fluent since birth.
Harry ran to Lestrange, racing to get there before Iolanthe and Daphne, or rather the lynx.
"Get back!" Iolanthe shouted, finally getting through to Harry.
Lestrange appeared to be trying to bring his wand to bear on his own leg. He put his hand on the ground to maneuver and temporarily lost the wand. Harry saw the wand free and shouted "Accio wand!" Daphne had transformed back to Daphne, saw Lestrange was wandless, and silently cast the mildest stunning spell she could think of. Lestrange calmed down, wobbly but not completely out.
"Potter, Greengrass, Black!" Harry heard. He realized he was listening to Iolanthe. Harry turned and looked at Daphne.
"I think we'd better let her handle it," he said, then, switching to parseltongue when he spoke to Iolanthe, "Iolanthe Astoria, I want you to call them off. They need to go to the woods now."
Harry stood next to Daphne and looked at the woozy Lestrange. Three adders were between the Potters and their attacker. Their coloration was slightly divergent, and Harry couldn't help wondering if Iolanthe had managed to color code them. Even while he was thinking it he knew it was a frivolous thought, although, with magic…
"Back to the woods, lads," Iolanthe said in parseltongue. The snakes were down in the grass, and invisible, in seconds. Harry followed their progress for a bit by watching the motion of the grass.
"What is she saying?" Daphne asked Harry, some urgency apparent in her voice.
"Iolanthe," Harry began in parseltongue, "You didn't need to do that. We're very grateful but you must understand it is Mum's and my job to protect you."
"I know, Father, but they'd come over and wanted to help out, so I let them, as long as they didn't get too carried away," Iolanthe replied.
"She sent the snakes back to the woods. She says they came to help out and she let them, as long as they didn't get too carried away. I think that might mean our visitor got off lucky. Do you want to assess him here or get him to St. Mungo's?" Harry asked.
Daphne considered for a moment, then cast her patronus. It wasn't very solid-looking in the full daylight, but it sat on its haunches and looked eager to hear its instructions.
"I need you to go to the emergency section at St. Mungo's and give this message to the healer in charge today.
"This is Daphne Potter, and we have a possible snakebite victim in Devon. He'll need transport to the nearest magical facility that can handle snakebites. The patronus will bring you back."
"Impressive," Harry said, watching the patronus bound away before dissolving in the daylight. "Want to take a look? Do you remember your snakebite classes from healer school?"
"It's not that hard," Daphne said. "Ask Iolanthe what she meant by not letting them get carried away."
"Not bad, not bad," Iolanthe said in a kind of sing-song, showing off her growing command of English.
"Hmmph," Daphne said. "Let's see, then."
Daphne moved her wand as if she were drawing an imaginary line in the air, and a slit appeared in Lestrange's trouser leg. Another movement of the wand tip folded the fabric back and Daphne got a look at the little puncture wounds, of which there were three pairs in the center of three red patches.
Lestrange was sitting up looking at his lower leg. He didn't seem particularly upset. Daphne bent over and passed her wand over the leg, then over Lestrange.
"Iolanthe Astoria," Daphne said.
"Mum," said Iolanthe, reaching up.
Daphne scooped up Iolanthe and held the toddler on her hip. The lynx trotted up then dissolved, making Daphne's wand vibrate slightly. It was accompanied by a patronus fox that bore a message from the emergency department:
"Healer Greengrass, two of the staff are on the way. There is a ministry health facility in Dartmouth that can take your patient."
The fox was no sooner finished than two 'pops' sounded and the emergency staffers walked up.
"Snakebite?" one asked.
"Looks like it," Daphne said. "We saw snakes, but they didn't stay around. The wounds look bad but there isn't the discoloration I've seen in venomous snake bites. I'm wondering if the attack was less than full venom discharge."
"We'll take every precaution," said the other emergency staffer, pulling a pad out of a wrapper. She put the pad over the area with the puncture wounds. "This is a pain reliever and drawing poultice. Have you ever had occasion to use one? They're very effective, especially if the fangs didn't go deep."
The two got Lestrange to his feet, put him between them with their arms around his waist and disapparated.
"Fast," Harry observed. "That's a real confidence builder."
"Shall we sit down, Iolanthe?" Daphne asked.
Iolanthe nodded vigorously. Daphne led the way to the chairs on the patio.
Once she'd gotten everyone seated, Daphne looked at Harry.
"Can you translate, if necessary?" Daphne asked.
"I think so," Harry said. "Don't get too fancy with the sentence structures."
"Iolanthe Astoria, Mum and Dad are very proud of you," Daphne began. "We know you wanted to help by protecting us from that man. If he remembers being bitten, he may stay angry at snakes. Do you understand?"
Iolanthe looked at Harry.
"Mum and Dad are proud of you," Harry said in parseltongue. "Mum says the man may be angry at snakes now."
Iolanthe frowned her angriest frown.
"He is a bad man," she said. "The snakes hurt him so he wouldn't hurt Dad."
Harry translated for Daphne, who reached over and pulled Iolanthe to her.
"I know, Sweetie, and you only wanted them to stop the man from hurting Dad, didn't you?" she said.
"Did you understand?" Harry asked, speaking parseltongue.
Iolanthe nodded.
"Should we take a walk?" Harry asked.
Iolanthe climbed down and stood on the flagstones.
"Walk," she said, holding up a hand.
"Let's go see if we can find Plum," Harry said to Daphne.