7. Curses
Bill Weasley loved his job. He spent his life outsmarting people who thought they had been immensely clever. Wizarding salvage law was fairly clear, if there was an unclaimed cursed object, and you could break the curse, it was yours. The Ministry had one department of Curse Breakers, and Gringotts had the other. Between the two branches there had long been a rivalry as to which was the better operation. Gringott's got more practice because they also offered the service for their customers. (And occasionally used it themselves when a client died intestate with a full vault.) The Ministry tended to work on bigger items, like entire burial sites. Occasionally, on really big projects (like the vaults under Stonehenge) they'd work together and split the take.
He'd been a Curse Breaker since he got out of Hogwarts. And in a job where many men got out after a few years, (and usually after having been proven not nearly as clever as they thought they were) Bill was still happy, and quite successful.
Because of this, he wasn't shocked to see Hermione in his Floo the next morning. "Sure I can come over."
Bill sat at their kitchen table, cup of tea in one hand, the other one jotting notes as he read through the pile of material collected by St. Mungo's.
"This is everything?"
"They have the actual diary instead of a copy, but yes, they tell us this is everything." Severus told Bill.
Bill shook his head. "This spell doesn't work."
"What do you mean?" Hermione almost sounded hopeful.
"I mean, it obviously does what they say it does, but this set up," he gestured to the papers in front of him, "won't produce the results you've got. A curse that keeps going after the caster is dead needs some sort of focus, something to power it. And yet the Healers of old broke the focus, mended the focus, destroyed the focus, created a magic free zone and dropped it into it, one of them even had a holy man cleanse it of its dark magic and the damn thing still kept right on working." Bill rubbed his forehead. "You need to go read the original diary, maybe the healers missed something, but this spell doesn't work the way this says it does."
"What are we looking for?" Severus asked.
"Something has to power this curse. Usually it's either the will of the wizard who cast it, or the wizard chooses an object and infuses it with his will to keep the curse running. Every now and again, on really tricky nasty curses you'll find someone who's found a way to pull the background magic into an object and use that to keep a curse running. That's an option with this one as well."
"What do you think of the cup?" Hermione asked.
"My best guess is that it's a fake. Something with a lot of dark energy in it to attract dark detectors, but it's not the actual focus. Or it is a part of the focus. It might work in tandem with something else. But if this is the sole focus this curse shouldn't last longer than the cup."
"Fred once told me you can do anything with magic."
"He was right, sort of. You can do anything, but not any way. One of two premises of this spell is incorrect, either the cup is not the focus or the person who cast the spell did not die before the spell ended." Bill stared at the pile of papers in front of him, tapping his fingers thoughtfully.
"It's possible that no one has properly destroyed the cup before. I've got some friends at the Ministry Curse Breakers, and there's something new we've been dying to try, and this might be the best chance we'll have to see if it works. So once the Aurors are done with it, I'll have Sam unmake it."
"Unmake it?" Severus sounded intellectually curious as well as personally interested.
"Do you remember the restoration spell Harry used on the wood in your wedding chapel? How it rewound time on the wood, made it younger?" They nodded. "It's the same basic premise but on something that isn't living. By the time Sam is done, assuming the spell actually works…" Hermione looked alarmed. Bill patted her hand while he kept speaking. "He'll have a lump of dry clay, a bit of water, and a little pile of glaze sitting in front of him. Then, if need be we can set fire to the components and if that still hasn't done it, we'll vanish what's left. You really can't get any more destroyed than that.
"If you've still got a nasty green aura after that, then we know the cup isn't the focus and we've got to keep looking."
"When we went after the Horcruxes they had to be really killed. Poisoned or destroyed by Feindfyre."
"It's probably not the same kind of thing. Those needed to be physically destroyed and the bit of soul killed. There's nothing in here to suggest that there's anything alive about this curse that needs to be killed. It is a possible way to create a spell that would have this kind of longevity…" Bill shook his head. "This spell just doesn't work the way it's written."
They sat quietly for awhile. Then Severus began to speak, "Obviously there's another copy of this spell somewhere. So, if we can find that, we can find who cast it, and how to fix it."
"I'd say that's your best bet. Don't get me wrong, the healers tried everything that could be tried, but they don't think like an evil nutjob. The first thing we learn as Curse Breakers is to make sure you're actually dealing with the cursed object. It's much easier to create a decoy and a simple curse, than it is to come up with a really nasty curse. This one might be a really nasty curse with a decoy.
"In the meantime, go over the whole house, and the yard, and the lab, and as much of Hogwarts as you think practical with a really good dark detector. Let's see if anything else comes up." Hermione began to smile a little.
"Hold up on the happy thoughts. I don't want to give you false hope. Depending on how this spell really is powered the focus could be anywhere. If it's actually something like a lock of hair, or a bit of fingernail, or a used tissue, it could be literally anywhere on earth. If it's just something you've touched, it's probably within a hundred miles; definitely within two hundred miles. If you've never had any contact with it, it'll be within a few miles of here or Hogwarts, or anywhere else you spend a good deal of time."
"What if we can't find the focus?" Hermione asked. Her voice was shaky.
Bill looked grim. "We'll find the focus."
"But if we don't?"
"You'll need to find a really good healer. There has to be some way to remove the magic from you if it cannot be killed. But I don't know how to do it." Bill stood up. "I have to get to work. What was the name of your Auror? I'll send a report to him about how curses work and what he needs to be looking for."
"John Davis," Severus answered.
Bill gave him a curious look, "John Davis?"
"Yes, do you know him?"
"Not him, but I'm friendly with his oldest brother. Isn't he rather young?"
"He was a very talented student who finished Hogwarts in five years. He graduated the year before last. I guess he got through Auror training in a similar speedy fashion." Hermione told the others.
"I hope so. Well, I'll send some notes his way." Bill got up and left.
Severus didn't like the way Bill said 'I hope so.' He had a feeling there was a piece of the puzzle he had missed. However, he had no desire to say anything that might alarm Hermione. So instead he said. "I've got a dark detector in the attic. It's been in storage for seven years, but I bet it still works. Shall we check the rest of the house?"