Chapter 8
Alternative Path
2007
edit 2013
previously...
The Goblin leader was torn between snarling at the human who had killed his six best warriors and then turned about and asked forgiveness.. the warriors died against a superior fighter. They failed. Therefore they had no right to their former position as Champions.. an insult it was.. but to be bested by a mere human, shameful.
"Director Ragnok, will we be able to work together with your opponent here?" Harry pondered.. It's never a good idea to fight a war on two fronts.. is there some way we can come to an agreement toward the greater good ?" He turned to the opposition leader. "Honorable Warrior, I do not know your name, but I see in your eyes the desire for what is best for your people.." The younger goblin cautiously nodded.. Harry continued.. I believe that over the years, Director Ragnok has been forced to accept agreements from the Ministry, who unfortunately doesn't appear to recall history, and the causes of almost all the Goblin Rebellions over the centuries.." the Director nodded in agreement. "It seems pretty stupid to me, that we wizards trust our entire economy in the hands of people who we make hate us because of our unfair treatment, am I correct?" They younger goblin snorted in derision. "Wizards are fools and weaklings.. if they are not strong enough to survive, they deserve to die!"
"In some ways I agree with you, but there are those who are innocent, those who never had a choice in making any decision, and those who have had their rights taken from them by those who lust for power." he looked down sadly.. "Our nation is today overrun by three men seeking power.. The least threat is the one who gets the most attention, Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort.. his methods are merely death and destruction of anyone who stands in his way, he has no real plans, other than to use the populace as cattle to be used and slaughtered." "By taking away his support and followers, he will weaken and eventually be forced into a confrontation, he will fight fiercely, but ultimately he will fail." "there is a prophecy, a rather questionable one at that, which if interpreted correctly, I am the only one who can defeat him, which is why Dumbledore has manipulated my life for the last eighteen years..yes eighteen, because he started his manipulation before I was born.."
Those watching gasped at the revelation.. Harry continued.. "The second is Cornelius Fudge, or whomever is in office at the moment, because whoever replaces Fudge will be just as bad while the existing laws are in place." The Ministry of Magic for Britain and the UK is hopelessly corrupt and behind the times in so many ways.." he sighed.. I hope we can find someone who will be willing to step up and do the job.. it will be painful and unforgiving, and thankless, but it needs done."
"The biggest threat to our worlds, yes both the Goblin Nations and The Wizarding world is one man., Albus Dumbledore, or whoever it is inhabiting that person.. I do not know yet if it's really Dumbledore or has he been suborned." He looked each person or being in the eyes and they all knew deep inside , that he was correct, and that the fight would be epic..if they allowed the fight to proceed.
"Dumbledore, with the help of Snape, created the entire myth of 'the boy who lived' and have kept it alive all these years..no one was there when whatever happened, happened. No one has any information as to what occurred on Samhain, 1981. for all we know, Tom got depressed and tried to kill himself."
"Hermione and I have searched my memories of that night , but we have found nothing conclusive, after all, I was only 15 months old then.." Harry took Hermione's hand and drew her to his side.. "first, a dodgy prophecy from a suspect seer, although she is related to the famed seer, Cassandra Trelawney, her given name is actually Sybil Lovegood, she's Odd Lovegoods' sister, Luna's aunt." "Be that as it may, the 'prophecy ' was partially heard by a lurker, one Severus Snape, who took the first part and went directly to his master, Voldy, and somehow convinced him that there was a threat, thus changing Tom Riddle's original plans.. which were to seek immortality, not take over the world."
"This is where the time line is iffy.. did Dumbledore know what Snape was doing, or ..did he send Snape on that mission?..a question to ask, I am sure.." Harry's face grew hard.." My parents.. why did they go into hiding at a relatively unprotected location like Godrics Hollow?" "Potter Manor is huge, secure, unplottable. No one but me knows where it is..they could hide for years there effortlessly, bring in the Longbottoms and had miles of space left over.. " "Sirius, whose idea was it to use Godrics Hollow?, and Who cast the Fidelius spell there?" Sirius ' face grew dark, very dark and angry.."Dumbledore" he spit out the word like a curse. "there you go, Dumbledore.. Who was the secret keeper?..Peter, right?, but if Dumbledore cast the spell, would that not make him ALSO a secret keeper?." Sirius nodded .. "Next question.. who would be in a place to know this information?"...the older people in the room thought about it for a moment.."realization dawned.. "That's right., the Longbottoms.." "Who really told Voldemort where my parents were?, was it Peter?, Snape?, or was it Dumbledore himself?" Harry tapped his scar "I have a direct link to Tom,maybe I should ask.."
"we're at least an hour past the deadline, what do we do about me dying?" Sirius asked.."I'm not sure it's the best idea anymore..Director, er I still don't know your name.." he looked apologetically at the younger Goblin..
"My name is Yagnik, Harry Potter, and I am well pleased to meet you.." "Well, I am also pleased to meet you, Warrior Yagnik... As I was saying, what is your opinion of what we should do with Sirius.. shall we kill him off or what?" Yagnik considered.."If you want to kill him, then.." he stepped forward and started to pull out his short sword.."NO!, wait!not really! Yagnik looked at him crossly "Either you want to kill him or not..make up your mind!" he snapped his sword back into it's sheath.. "crazy wizard" he mumbled
"Madam Bones, I need to ask..Who amongst your aurors can you trust to not be controlled or loyal to Dumbledore ?" she pondered for a moment.. "Travis Biller and Gavin Roberds are fiercely loyal to what is right, neither have ever been tempted by bribes or dark lords." "I trust them with my life and more, my family, I think you know how I feel about Susan.." "Indeed I do.. , now then, do you think they will capture the escaped Sirius Black rather than kill him outright?" She called them to come into her office.."lets ask"
Harry explained an outline of the last sixteen or so years, and asked "If we send out Sirius to fulfill the Imperio put on him, could you make it look realistic?, I'm sure that Dumbledore has watchers in the ranks.." Biller and Roberds agreed to the deception, but insisted that there be an interrogation with veritaserum soon afterward.. Harry agreed quickly and plans were made.
Harry came back into the office where they were ensconced and had to tell Sirius to quit dancing around like a boxer, unless he wanted someone to punch him.. and to get himself together for his appointment with the aurors.. "So what are we going to do with our prisoner here?" Arthur poked at the still stubefyed DE.. "Hermione, what are you doing? She had dug around in a closet and found a couple cardboard boxes, which she put on the table.. she did some transfiguration and created a bed, a table, a chair, and a ...chamber pot. Affixed to one side of the box she made a sink, and water supply. "Did you get an urge to play with dolls all of a sudden?" Harry and Arthur grinned as she gave them a look that would start fires.. "I am solving our prisoner problem" she cast several charms on the box and its contents, the last of which shimmered like a clear Jello coating, that faded into invisibility.
"There, a prison that will be escape-proof, easily maintained and cheap to fabricate.."
She then did a charm that created a duplicate, to do this, she had to put another box nearby, and the spell absorbed the mass, creating a duplicate. "It helps to have an equivalent mass, rather than conjuring something out of nothing.. I can conjure up what I need, but it takes less energy this way, and the results are more permanent.." She placed the box next to the other and twirled her wand a bit, both boxes fused into a pair.. She piled on some more boxes, and did it again, now there were four cells.. "That's enough for today." The adults and goblins in the room just stared with wonder.."Harry, will you bring me the prisoner, please?" He floated the prisoner over to her, and laid him on the table in front of her craft project.. "His wand please?" he handed it over.. "We did get a priori incantatum on that wand, did we not?" "Yes, but let let Madam Bones do it so she can see for herself.."
Harry handed the wand to Madam Bones who laid it on a piece of parchment and cast the spell. "ostendo prior carmen planto record en membrana" the wand glowed and a list of spells and curses wrote themselves on the parchment, along with the name of the owner, age, and several other pieces of information. Madam Bones took the parchment and looked at it closely, tuttutting over the unforgivables and near-unforgivables.. "Based on the evidence here, this wand was used in rape, torture and casting the killing curse.. this evidence alone is enough to convict this person.." she dropped her monocle and handed the paper to Biller.. "Why would you want to give this person his wand back?
Hermione nodded and went on.. "As a demonstration, I am not showing off, I am taking the opportunity to show a better way.. I did not create these spells, they have, however been modified for use here.." she turned to address the prisoner, when Harry put in sotto voce, "She is being humble.. Hermione has more than memorization of books, she has the skills to synthesize knowledge and make leaps of intuition that boggles the mind.. the only other person I know even close to her ability is Luna Lovegood.." Hermione smiled at him and worked her magic and the prisoner on the table shrank, smaller and smaller until he was six inches tall, which worked out perfectly because the four joined box/prison cells were one cubic foot each. She floated the prisoner up and laid him on one of the beds. The silvery shield rippled as the body floated through it. She whispered an 'awaken' spell and the watchers could see the prisoner sit up and shake his head to clear it. He looked around, checking out his surroundings. Took up his wand and cast a few spells about, looking for a way out. "From his viewpoint, he is in an enclosed room, with no doors or windows, and no lights, just a glow from the ceiling. The prisoner was getting angry now, throwing ever more powerful spells at the walls, the floor, the sink.. the spells just disappeared, having no effect at all. He was yelling at the top of his lungs, but the sound the watchers heard was tinny like a mouse.. "I can replicate as many of these as you need, there is little need for dementors, extra guards.. I could put this in my laundry room and have my cat Crookshanks guard them all".
"The box prison is portkey and apparition proof, the shields around it act as a 'ground' as it were for magic.. you could have a dozen powerful wizards casting full strength, and it wouldn't make a ripple, in fact, adding magic increases the strength of the shield." Harry picked up the discussion.. "What we are proposing is this.. Voldemort is only around because there are people who support him."
if we take away his base of support, it weakens his power structure, takes away from his finances.. it should cause him trouble., and We aim to create trouble." "Madam Bones, Our nation is in crisis, and we think that this will be a humane and honest solution to the problem, we will detain as many Death Eaters as possible, and when the time is right, have fair and legal trials, after this is all over." he paused and considered.. "Our other option is kill on sight any masked Death Eater, no matter who they know or pay off." Hermione interjected.. "We would like to have a humane method of punishment, for ethical reasons, and if for no other reason than, that we are better than that."
Harry squeezed her hand.. "I was feeling hypocritical about polyjuicing this guy and sending him out to be killed, it didn't set right with me, although I was stirred up about it earlier, it doesn't make it right" "After he gets a trial and judged we kick his sorry ass through the Veil, so be it.."
"All right..Showtime.." Harry and Hermione switched their disguises to Neo and Trinity and went out to the front steps of Gringotts. Harry grabbed Sirius and hugged him tightly. "Now don't get yourself killed, I can change the time line only once you know.."
Sirius walked calmly up the center of Diagon Alley, minding his own business, wand held discretely at his side, it was oddly refreshing to be himself and not disguised.. he looked in shop windows and greeted the other shoppers with a smile, until he was spotted by a couple Aurors, Dawlish and Grenville. Dawlish shouted, rather than be professional, "SIRIUS BLACK YOU ARE UNDER
ARREST THROW DOWN YOUR WAND AND SURRENDER!" this caused panic in the street, people screaming, running for cover. Sirius did nothing but step behind a pillar, keeping an eye on the shouting Aurors, waiting for his protection to show up.. Dawlish and Grenville skipped from pillar to post, throwing spells wildly in Sirius direction, finally coming up on the pillar Sirius was hiding behind.. "DAWLISH, GRENVILLE, STAND DOWN!" Biller didn't need a sonorus charm for his voice to be heard throughout the alley.. Biller and Roberds strode down the middle of the street side by side, with about 8 feet between them, their Robes flapping in the wind, looking all the world like a couple gunfighters in the old west.. "But, Sir! he might get away, he's a dangerous criminal!" "NOW! DAWLISH!"
Dawlish and Grenville had Sirius bracketed, only because Sirius had done nothing to escape or fight back.. Dawlish had grabbed Sirius by the shoulder and was about to jerk him about when his superior had ordered him to stand down.. he had tried to argue, but his superior did not agree with his knowledge of dark criminals like Black.. so he passed judgement., he stuck his wand in the criminals side and cast cannon blast hex. Black went down immediately, his ribs crushed and his organs severely damaged.. Dawlish sneered at the prisoner. "And thats how it's done,
Grenville, give them no quarter, curse first" "YOU IDIOT!" Biller immobilised Dawlish and took his wand away, as Roberds lay a portkey on Black and whisked him away to St. Mungos.. "Dawlish, you bloody moron.. Black is innocent.. you probably killed an innocent man.. I'll have you squibbed for this..," Grenville interrupted.."Sir, are you saying that Black wasn't a Death Eater, and Didn't kill all those people?" "Thats right Grenville.. Black is innocent of all charges, he spent 12 years in Azkaban for no good reason than to satisfy corrupt Ministry officials" Biller freed Dawlish and held out his Auror's portkey.. "Come with me" he forced Dawlish' hand on the portkey. Grenville followed along, quietly pondering what had happened..they disappeared in a swirl..
"Well that didn't go very well." Harry sat at the table with his face in his hands, Hermione sat beside him, arm around his waist and her head on his shoulder. "We should have had Biller in place before Siri went out.." "It will be ok Harry, they got him to St Mungo's on time.. look at the bright side, Travis' interrogation found out a hidden DE sympathiser with Dawlish.." "Amelia has put in place orders for every Ministry employee to be interrogated under veritaserum and obliviated.. Croaker and Wills are in charge of getting that done." "Good, shoulda done that long time ago.." he groaned and stood up.. her hands sliding into his. He lifted her effortlessly out of the chair to a standing position.
He embraced her and held her tightly.. he never wanted to let go, and she wanted to live in his arms.. that phrase meandered through her mind, and immediately jumped ship to the news article about Prince Charles' phone calls being intercepted.. she shook her head in amazement, at what people will believe. "I need some rest.. we have been going non stop since the message arrived from Croaker this morning...my head is spinning, and I'm hungry.. he paused to let her loose enough to look into her eyes.. "Tell you what, lets take Mr Wills to lunch and then investigate the hidden door to the Ministry all right? She smiled in agreement and they went, hand in hands to Frank Wills offices.
"So how much can you tell me about your tricks and gadgets? The Security chief sat his coffee cup back down on the table of the commissary they had eaten lunch at.. They were at the far end of the room, with good sightlines to the entrances and exits, and no place for anyone to get behind them, or eavesdrop on them. Harry started pulling out assorted objects and laying them on the table, after checking there was no one around.. Like any typical wizard, he had far more stuff than would fit in a normal coats pockets. "We will share some of these things with certain select people, but by no means all., because we have to have an edge over the Deetz, and there are too many Ministry people in the pockets of those-who-must-be- mudbrains." Hermione smirked, but held her tongue.. Harry grinned at his own joke while she rolled her eyes "The first is our coats, which have a great many pockets and storage spots, is resistant to most curses and hexes, and is stylish to boot.." He reached down and touched a couple rivits on the belt in sequence,... and was in full body armor, combination kevlar and dragonhide.. At the shoulder a sheath, but no sword , currently. "I will be retrieving the
Sword of Gryffindor, but not today.." he touched his belt again and cycled through his various disguises and settling back on his Neo where he started..
"We didn't invent all these things, but we did fabricate them.. My father and his friends had a map of Hogwarts when they were in school, and it is a wonderful thing for avoiding people, or finding them.." he paused.. What we did was figure out the enchantments used and now we can create a map like this in minutes, or a few hours depending on how big the place is." he unfolded a parchment. "This is a map we started today, in the Prophecy room.." Wills started to protest.. "Don't worry, it will be turned over to your department upon completion.. and after we capture the 12 Deetz, and whoever else invades." He tapped the map and the layout appeared as he said the password "Security1" they could see the outlines of the shelves and the doors, but nothing beyond the perimeter of the room.. "We tied this map in with a couple devices used to explore and report.." he picked up an object the size of a tennis ball. It had the shape of a bat stenciled on the side.. he held it up and tapped it with his wand "Wingnut" the ball peeled off layers of bats and it shrank smaller and smaller, until there were none left. The bats circled around once and flew away, up the hall and down, out of sight. The map grew from a single point, halfway across the page from the already visible prophecy room.. the lines defining the halls and rooms grew, with it points defining people, none with names yet. There were rooms with closed doors, the doors could be seen, but nothing behind. "You can see how useful a tool like this can be" Trinity spoke, once the map fills in, and the people are identified, you can keep watch on everything from one location." "Take your wand and point it somewhere in the prophecy room, since the spyders have been there the longest.."
Wills took his wand and pointed on the room, where the tip touched, there faded into view a three dimensional view, although in shades of grey, quite clear and precise.. "Try zoom, and rotate your wand right or left to zoom in and out.." he did so and blinked, it was so disorienting.."You get used to it after a bit.." he lifted his wand and the zoomed area disappeared. "Wow, that's quite the thing" the entire floor they were on was now mapped except for a few closed rooms, since this was a publicly accessible level most of the plan was open.. The bats had gained access to the stairwells and elevator shafts, and the areas above and below were growing. "You go from floor to floor like this" Harry/Neo swiped his finger down, from top to bottom and the level above appeared.. Wills noted that many of the dots signifying people started having names next to their dot. He could see the commissary hall they were in, and saw three dots, labeled, Neo, Trinity, and Frank Wills.. a matter of curiosity, he placed his wand point on their table and a three-d picture appeared, and he could see himself, but the dots labeled Neo and Trinity were just that, dots.. he could see the objects on the table, and zoomed in and out exploring the map. "The reason you can see you and not us, is that we are in admin mode.. after the map is finished we will be visible also." "How do you get a live picture like that?.. he zoomed into the back of his head and tsked over the balding spot.. he lifted his wand and looked Harry in the eye..
"Spyders, the second part of the equation..look there" he pointed toward the gaslight on the wall "See the spyder? Each spyder has eight eyes, and the image you see is a compilation of several spyders in this room.." he reached up and touched one, which crawled obediently into his hand.. and perched on the end of his finger.. "Their total vision covers 270 º each, and the map compiles the vision from multiple sources.. here, let me show you" he tapped his wand on the map and mumbled the correct words , and all the spiders out so far blinked as fine dots in a 3d matrix. "Fin" and it all disappeared. Harry folded up the map and put it away in his coat.. "What we would like to do now is find that hidden access that the DE was talking about, and map out whatever we can find there"
Wills checked in with Croaker letting him in on what was going on, while Harry/Neo called St. Mungos to check on Sirius.. he shut off the mirror with a sigh. "They are going to keep him a couple days, because the damage to his internal organs, they have to replace his spleen and regrow his liver, plus his heart is bruised.." "Oh Harry, at least he'll be all right, you're not going to lose him.." Hermione held Harry tightly, her face against his hair.. "We'll just have to find him a desk job where he won't get hurt.." Harry snorted.. and started laughing, gasping for air.. "man.. snrkk .. I can just see it now.. "Sirius Black hospitalized, deadly paper cut.." Hermione guffawed, putting in her two pence Stapler incidents on the rise.. here, she reached for her bag.. Would you like to see my stapler? "Oh no, not the stapler again.." Wills looked at the two teens who were practically red and about to burst.
He shook his head,thinking... its gonna be interesting to work with these two..
Harry and Hermione and Frank Wills, all in Unspeakable robes, hoods up stepped out of the phone booth at the back of the Ministry, and walked along the side of the building looking for the appropriate hidden marks, eventually found it, a heart, drawn in the dust on the glass of a window. Harry wiped at it to see if it was real, the dust and mark remained undisturbed.. "Interesting".. they looked around to see if there were any watchers or sightlines, found nothing. Harry dug in his coat. "What are you looking for?" Hermione queried.. "Osirus' eye." "Here I have one" she pulled out a package and peeled off a sticker on a roll, Harry took it and took out the map, unfolding it. "Here Frank, this is yours anyway, you keep it" he placed the eye on the map at the appropriate place, did a spell and took the eye across the street with a sprint. Just short of the wall, he leapt up a good three meters and paused, just under an architectural ledge, slapping the sticker in place. A small obscuring charm and he landed silently, coming back. "Check the map, realtime view" Frank did so and saw himself and two obscured dots standing up against the wall looking at the map. Harry put two more eyes on the map at either end of the alley, did it again and placed the eyes. "There, now we have an eye on the secret entrance, set the map to alarm when someone approaches this door area.." Frank put the map away and looked at the teens.."Ready" they nodded, and he knocked on the window. They all set their robes to black, with obscured shadow on the faces, figuring this was probably the wisest choice.
They waited for a moment, and a door appeared in the solid brickwork. Harry pushed the door gently and it opened silently, they could see the back of a departing wizard who had opened the door. Harry sent a silent 'stubefy' down the dark hallway, and the wizard fell to he floor with a thump. Nothing happened , no voices, no sound, no alarms, Hermione got out a bat ball and set it off, the bats flying into he hallway and out of sight. Harry silently stepped into the hall and down the steps, moving up to where the stunned wizard was, glancing around the corners, left and right, Frank and
Hermione moved into place behind him and tested for charms, spells, eyes, anything they could think of.. They found the locking mechanism for the outside door, quite simple, no charms or hidden traps, a peephole to see who was outside, charmed to see in the dark or light. Actually quite crude, Hermione thought, she could come up with something so much better without straining at all. They waited around five minutes before moving, watching the hidden tunnels grow on the map, seeing the closed off rooms sensed by the bats' echolocational skills.. the map had doors into several areas of the Ministry, all hidden, and all in very secure locations.
The Floo control office, Secure records rooms and storage, Magical beings control office. The women's locker room of the Aurors training area. Several near the Department of Mysteries, but only the one into the Prophecy room on that level. And then, most damning of all..The Minister of Magic's office. No one was in any of the tunnels except the four at the entrance, well the three and the prisoner. Harry put the wizard up against the wall and bound him, handing the persons wand to Hermione. While she tested it and took the priori, whispering the wizards name to the others, Harry awoke the wizard. "Whats your name?" The wizard looked around frantically, "I did what you told me, I haven't told anyone, I promise!" He tried to get free but couldn't budge a muscle below his neck.. it didn't stop him from trying though.. "We'll see about that." Harry took out a small spray, it looked like a breath spray, but the mist was veritaserum. He sprayed it in the man's face and put a bubblehead around him, forcing him to breath it in. His eyes glazed over.
"Who are you?"
"Oliver Bagman"
"Are you related to Ludo Bagman?"
"Yes , he's my uncle"
"Where do you work?"
"Department of Sports and Games"
"Do you work for anyone else"
"Lucius Malfoy"
"Willingly, or unwillingly?"
"He promised me my own department when they took over"
"They?"
"The Dark Lord and his people"
"Are you a Death Eater?"
"Yes"
"What are your orders concerning this door?"
"When I get the signal, to come and open it after checking the peephole"
"Checking for who?
"Checking for His Followers"
"Is there a password?"
"Yes, pureblood"
"Why did you let us in?"
"You looked like His people and you knew the password, and I was told
to expect you today or tomorrow."
"Told by who?"
"Mr. Malfoy"
"Hold still" the still bound man couldn't do much other than be still. Harry looked into his eyes and commanded: "Everything you just told us, every memory of dealings with Lucius Malfoy, every order he has given you, every meeting and action taken as a Death Eater" Harry put his wand to the prisoners' head and pulled out a great glob of memory,, which Hermione captured in a sealed jar.
He released the bubblehead and blew away any remaining mist. "You will remember nothing from the time you opened the door until you return to your desk. Nothing unusual happened. No one knocked today, proceed with your usual duties...Go" The wizard was unbound and walked away, looking neither left or right, not acknowledging their presence. They silently followed him along as he went back to the Department of Sports and games and peeked through a hole, and slipped into the men's restroom and went back to his desk.
They looked at each other and Harry shook his head as he dug out his roll of Osirus Eyes™ and did the necessary charms and slapped it above the door. They headed back to the entrance, placing eyes at important points along the way. Eventually all the entrances and exits were identified, and eyes were placed at the intersections. Spyders were all around, hiding in cracks and walking across the ceiling, a bat or two fluttered by on a regular basis, but no one would notice that unless they stood in one place for a long time. All this worked together to create a realtime view of the complete tunnel system. Harry led the others toward what seemed to be a dead end tunnel, in fact the marks of excavation were still evident, where someone had given up. Hermione asked Frank if he recognized the magical signature that was still slightly discernible on the diggings. "No , I don't recognize it directly, but we may be able to match it up with the records, assuming they haven't been corrupted." Hermione snorted.. "good luck with that!" She continued.. "My parents keep medical records for all their patients, one copy in the office, but another copy at a secure location offsite.. there are companies that do this for a fee, promising weatherproof, fireproof, earthquake proof and complete privacy.. Harry, do you think we should start a business like that for the wizarding world?" "Sure why not?, I thought of this a couple nights ago, except I wanted to create a database of all magical people in the UK, and put them into a database, so we can statistically track who is a Deet and who is not." He went on.."That way as we capture and interview each, we can get them all, even if they are set up as a cell system, which, I highly doubt." They stepped out of a secret door in the main atrium, which made it look just as if they were stepping out of one of the floo entries. "eleventh from the end on the left side, very tricky." "Hold on a minute" he disappeared into the green flames, and came out again about a minute later. "If you have to use that entrance, duck walk, if you stand up you will lose your head..don't forget" he held his fingers at his neck "Six foot inside the door." They nodded in agreement and they went their ways, leaving the crowds behind.
"what we need is some kind of facial recognition software, or charm..something that can see through glamors, disguises.. disillusionment charms..anything.." "Well there are choke points everyone has to go through, in the Ministry, in Diagon Alley, if we can get cooperation with the
Goblins, ...everyone has to use Gringotts after all.." Hermione ticked off the locations.."If we can create or find a charm that detects the dark mark, this would be a great tool." Croaker put down his teacup and got up from his desk. He went over to the shelves and pulled down a volume, he leafed through it.."This book is everything we have on the Dark Mark , interviews about how it was placed, what has been tried to remove it, everything we have." He handed the book to her, she took it almost reverently "Don't lose it, it is literally one of a kind." She paged through it, and closed it, laying it on the desk in front of her, Harry just sat back and smirked, knowing what was coming next. She pulled out a case the size of a paperback book from her pocket and sat it on the floor near the wall, pressing her thumb to the latch on top, intoned the password. "Library" The book opened up and unfolded itself into three sections of freestanding bookcase, filled with books of all sorts, The center section was a foldout desk, with parchment and cubbyholes and inkwells and quills,a complete study, office.
"Hermione likes to be prepared.." Harry semi-whispered to Algie..he didn't have to whisper, he could have shouted and she would not have paid any attention. She took the book and placed it on the center of the desk area, and lowered a hood over it, with a charmed screen on top. "She took almost two months of continuous work to create this, I had to literally pick her up and carry her away from it, so she would eat and exercise.." "I had to do the same too you a couple times too , you know...get you out of your Dojo" she spoke without turning to them.. "Thats true, I guess we both have our things, don't we.." he laughed, and this time she actually did give him a sideways glance, her smile hidden..Harry continued.."We also have one we use for potions, but that is enclosed in a trunk, I have it here somewhere", he casually indicated his coat.. The light scanning through the book, and the readout on the charmed screen scrolled down, until the thing dinged a bell that sounded exactly like a microwave shutting off. She opened the hood and handed the book back to Croaker, "There you are, good as new"She closed the hood and waited a minute until it dinged again and then opened it once more... "and now there are TWO copies of that book." she took the book off her scanner and went to the right side shelf and slid the books on that shelf aside as if on a wheel, until she found the correct spot and inserted the tome. "I have a team of house elves working for me, building my library, We built a total of five of these once we figured out how to do it" "I found a wizard cabinetmaker in Glasgow, who understands Making, and he built the cases, but Hermione did all the charm work on the scanner section" Croaker could hear the young man speak the word Maker with the inflection it deserved.
"If I wanted one of these?" he asked.. Hermione thought about it for a moment.. "If you were to pay cash for it, I would say about two million Galleons, because it comes with access to my library.. tell you what..You give me access to all your books and I will sell you a library case just like this for one Galleon" she looked at him with a question on her face. He though about it for a bit and sighed..he opened a drawer and pulled out a coin and flipped it through the air, and she caught it handily. "Algie, you just made her day, no year!" Harry laughed. She couldn't get the grin off her face. "How did you copy that?, it has copyright charms on it, I put them there myself" He scowled. "Well, I did copy it, but not like you think.." she was proud of her creation. "The copier can copy anything, given enough time, and the right materials.." she picked up a potted plant off the side table.. Croaker had tended that plant for years, and was about to say something, but waited, remembering the statement she had made before. "First you pick the item you want to copy, and put it under the hood, which expanded to cover the plant. She then took the remains of their lunch, a pile of papers that were headed for the trash, and looked to Harry who sighed and pulled a six pack of beer out of one of his pockets, and threw it all in a hopper, which folded out of the bottom under the scanner she looked at the readout on the screen above the hood. "We still need some copper and tin to color the glazing probably" Harry looked into his pouch and pulled out some bronze knuts and handed them to her, she threw them in also. "Ok, hit the copy button." Algie did and watched the readout on the screen as words and numbers flowed down the screen is green torrents. "After a while you start seeing it as real, and not just arithmancy and equations". She indicated various parts of the scrolling figures.."there you see that, this is the pot the plant is in, there is the soil, here are the moisture levels..." he nodded , watching in fascination as the scroll finished.. "Now the entire scan of the plant is in the pattern buffer, waiting to be made."She pulled up the hood and set the plant back on the table from where it came. She closed the hood and and hit the button again. The scrolling data went up the screen this time and after having been shown the different parts of the process, recognized the various parts of the plant.. The hopper below the scanner glowed and muffled sounds like grinding could be heard. He looked at her with a question in his eyes. "Its easier to transfigure than to conjure" he nodded in understanding, as the process stopped, and the appliance dinged. "Go ahead."she indicated. He pulled up the hood, and there, sitting on the platform, was an exact copy of his plant.
"The process works on dead things, on inanimate things and on magical things, up to a point." She continued. "Our experiments show that you cannot create life, we tried with a squirrel, and the body was perfect copy of the live one, but no life force, it seems to work on plants but not animals.. I want to experiment on the lower planarians and non-chordate things and work my way up from there". Harry stuck his two knuts in.. "I think she's been reading May Shelly's journals again..the ones where she documented her uncle's work?"
Croaker looked shocked "Miss Granger, you know that is forbidden!" The witch had the grace to look embarrassed...That is. until Croaker lost his 'official' face and laughed until he was breathless. She turned away, her face red, as she folded up her assemblage back to its pocket size.
"How many books do you have in the Department of Mysteries that I can have access to?" He looked at her curiously as she continued. "I understand that some things should not be shared, but even if I cannot have access, I would like a summary, so if need be I know where to look" "That makes sense, and I agree, I will share as much as I possibly can with you, assuming you will take an oath to keep some of these things out of the hands of the wrong people...Need to know only, understand?" She regarded him through unreadable eyes.. "your requirements are not even close to how I feel about it, so I have no problem making the required oaths." Croaker relaxed.. "You may know, my father was SAS and he has explained to me about risks and dangers of letting loose of intelligence." she put away her library and sat back on the couch with Harry. "My father was a combat medic, he worked undercover with the SAS and patched up and saved the lives of many an undercover agent, in some of the most hostile conditions around" her eyes were haunted. "I picked up some of his memories accidentally when we were explaining legilimency and occulmency to my parents" they sat silently for a few moments as Hermione gathered her thoughts. "He was a Cold Warrior...at least I know they can defend themselves, since they have both had combat training..it took a lot of arguing to get them to keep themselves armed, but they are prime targets because of me.." she looked down sadly, and Harry put his arms around her, holding her tightly. "Come on now love, I think we need to go and get some rest.. tomorrow's a big day.."
Algie Croaker sat silently for a long time after they left, staring at his duplicate plants...
