Chapter 14: Dodging Issues
"Sorry, a little Department of Mysteries joke," Olivia explained.
"You used to work for the Department of Mysteries?" Claire asked.
"I can't confirm or deny that."
"Were you an Unspeakable?"
"Sorry, can't hear you over the sound of my thoughts!" Olivia laughed again. "I could do this all day. On a different subject, do you mind if I call you by your first name?"
"Um, sure."
"It just feels like I already know you from how much your brother talked about you when we went to school together."
"Then you really were friends."
"Did he mention my sparkling personality?"
"He said you were really smart."
"No kidding! I always got top grades in class, which he was always jealous of."
"Can you tell me more about what he was like as a student?"
"Well, he was a talented Ravenclaw…but he was very impulsive. He and Duncan would always come up with hare-brained schemes that never worked out. Frankly, if I wasn't part of their group we would never have found the first Cursed Vault together."
"Did you meet Patricia Rakepick when you were in school?"
"Yes, she visited Hogwarts once. Jacob was enamored by her beauty to the point where it almost made me jealous. Luckily, Duncan was there to remind me that I was much prettier than her."
"Were you and Duncan…close?"
Olivia nodded. "His death was a tragedy…."
Claire noticed Olivia looked pained, as if she was repressing her emotions. Then Olivia shook her head and she was right back to her previous cheerful demeanor.
"You seem to have a lot of questions," Olivia remarked. "But I'm not sure why you asked about Patricia Rakepick. I only talked with her a couple of times and that's it."
"Are you sure?" This didn't sound right to Claire.
"Of course I am. Why would I lie about something like that?"
"What about Duncan?"
"There's not much to say. We were just really close friends, and so were me and Jacob."
"But didn't you two have a thing?"
"So what? It's not a crime to love someone."
"If you loved Duncan so much, then his death must have hit hard."
"Duncan's death was your brother's fault! He was always encouraging Duncan, even though he knew Duncan was constantly doing dangerous experiments. It was all because of a stupid dare where your brother persuaded Duncan to brew a strong Draught of the Living Death potion and try it on himself."
Immediately, Claire knew Olivia's answer wasn't right because the potion that killed Duncan was an Erumpent Potion that exploded.
"Could you be mistaking the Draught of the Living Death for another potion?" Claire said in a delicate tone.
"No, I'm sure it was the Draught of the Living Death," Olivia insisted. She then checked her pocket watch. "I should be going. Tell your brother I said hi if you see him again."
"I will," Claire agreed. "And…I'm sorry if I made you upset from asking so many questions."
"Don't worry about it," Olivia said. "I should be apologizing to you for losing my temper. Professors shouldn't act that way in front of their students, after all."
Then as Olivia walked away, Claire was left more confused than satisfied.
Later, Claire called a meeting for the Circle of Khanna on the Training Grounds which everyone met at. Once again, Merula wasn't present.
"Hey, future leader of 'R'!" Fred and George Weasley said to Claire as she arrived.
Claire ignored the twins' biting joke and addressed the group. "I thought I should give you all an update on the situation with Professor Green."
"What happened to telling Professor Dumbledore about your father?" Ben asked.
"A few…complications happened with that," Claire answered, not wanting to go into detail about her day trip with Peregrine.
Ben didn't sound convinced. "You're just trying to dodge dealing with the fact that your dad is the head of 'R.'"
"No, I'm not dodging anything!" Claire argued. "I wasn't able to tell Professor Dumbledore, and I really think it's important for us to figure out what's going on with Professor Green. We know she had past dealings with 'R' like my brother did, but her memory is very dodgy. Finding out what she knows about 'R' will help us determine if they're a good or evil organization."
"How are we supposed to avenge Rowan's death if we keep ignoring your personal affiliation with 'R'?" Ben said bitterly. "For all we know, your father may have ordered Rakepick to kill Rowan!"
"Enough, Ben!" Liz snapped. "We don't know that for sure."
"He said Rakepick acted on her own, but I'm not sure if I trust my dad," Claire said. "And that's why we need to uncover Green's missing memories."
"Missing?" Ben looked confused. "How can you be sure of that?"
"Before I called you guys, I spoke with Professor Green during Free Period," Claire explained. "I asked her a bunch of questions about her time at Hogwarts and she had nothing but good memories. Then when I brought up Duncan's death, she seemed pained by the memory but got a major detail wrong. She said Duncan died after drinking a powerful Draught of the Living Death Potion, but I know from talking with Duncan's ghost that he was killed after brewing an unstable Erumpent Potion."
Ben pondered on this information. "That doesn't sound like a detail you would forget, especially if she had romantic feelings for Duncan."
"And Green barely remembers Rakepick, which also seemed suspicious," Claire added. "But that does remind me of something: when I ran into Rakepick at Azkaban, she said she needed to find 'the box'. I think she may have been referring to the memory vials Jae, Tonks, and I found in Green's office."
"Then if that's the case, we definitely need to look at those vials if a former member of 'R' was willing to attempt a jailbreak to get them," Liz said.
"Exactly," Claire said. "So we need to break into Olivia's office and steal those vials."
To be continued…