Here it is, as I promised. My chapter for this week! Enjoy and please review!
Victoire pulled endless books and articles off the shelves of the Potter's home library, reading the titles and throwing them into separate piles- ones to read and ones to ignore. So far, it seemed as though the pile of useless books was a mile high, a mountain in comparison with the few books that Teddy was scanning for important information. Exasperated, she turned towards him, placing one hand on her slender hip and running the other through her wavy strawberry-blond hair that reached the bottom of her bum.
"Have you found anything?" she asked, finding it hard to be as serious as she felt when she saw Teddy's bright green hair. Whenever he concentrated hard, green was his go-to colour and never failed to make her laugh. Teddy looked up, his hair and eyes turning a midnight black. Standing up, he moved his way over to her, looping one arm around her skinny waist and the other played with her beautiful Veela hair.
"No, darling," he said, mocking seriousness. "Not most books have anything about whether or not the newest Minister of Magic likes to steal maps and torture teenage girls for fun." Victoire smacked him playfully, sliding out of his muscular, sexy arms. Suddenly, it hit her and she smacked her forehead, amazed and hating her stupidity.
"Of course! We've just been looking in the wrong places," Victoire said. "All of these books were written years ago! There wouldn't be anything about the newest minister in them." She was pacing now but stopped at the confused look on Teddy's face. "We need newspapers of course! They report recent happenings which is exactly what we need." Teddy seemed to finally catch on. It was sometimes annoying. Her boyfriend was by no means dumb but he wasn't an old Ravenclaw like Victoire. He was sweet and caring and brave, being the Gryffindor he was, but couldn't put two and two together with the same speed as Victoire.
"I think I remember reading something a few months ago," said Victoire. She was heading out of the door, whispering now so she didn't wake anyone. Teddy followed her, confused but not surprised at his girlfriend's intelligent babbling. She was a professor at Beauxbatons, soon to be Headmistress, and the most intelligent girl he knew. She would often ramble on and on, not making sense to anyone but herself. She was starting to dress herself warmly in hats, mitts, scarves, and coats. Teddy, not sure what else to do, dressed himself also. Victoire grabbed Teddy's hand and unexpectedly, they were flung out of the Potter's house, to the Ministry of Magic.
Teddy stumbled in the snow, falling into a big snow bank from the surprise. He moaned, his face numb with cold, stinging snow. He rolled over onto his back, wiping the snow from his face with the back of his mitten. He stood up, grumbling at Victoire, who was standing perfectly poised on the sidewalk without a hair out of place.
"A warning would have been nice," he complained and Victoire shrugged. It wasn't rude or unthoughtful. It simply meant that she was distracted and probably hadn't heard the comment. Victoire entered the Ministry of Magic quickly, Teddy jogging behind her to keep up.
Pausing at a sign, her finger scanned the page before it stopped. Floor 234- Library.
"The Ministry's library has everything from recipe books to novels to Muggle literature and, for our purposes, copies of every newspaper article that was ever released," Victoire explained as they boarded an elevator and began the quick, scary ascent to the 234th floor. Teddy grabbed onto the wall as the elevator went this way and that- left and right, up and down, right side up and upside down. Finally, the elevator stopped and Teddy stepped onto solid ground gratefully. Around him was the biggest library he had ever seen. The walls, no doubt extended by magic, were filled with books from top to bottom. There was even books that hung from the ceiling, suspended by magic. In the middle of the room, rows and rows of books extended way beyond where the eye could see. Tables were scattered around the room for the purpose of reading but, they too were piled high with books so that not even a finger had room on the table. Books that were supposed to have been put away by the librarian were flung across the room. Ladders were everywhere, some still zooming about magically. But nobody, not even a single house elf, was in sight.
"How the bloody hell do we find what we're looking for?" Teddy asked, mystified. Victoire scoffed. She knew how to navigate libraries like the back of her hand. They were one of the places where she felt most at home. She loved the musty smell of old books and the dimness of lights. She also loved the feeling of being the one leading others around.
"This way," she directed and began marching away purposefully, Teddy once again running behind her in an effort to keep up.
Later….
"No!" Victoire breathed in shock, unable to believe what she had learned. "It all makes sense now!" she exclaimed to Teddy, louder now.
"What?" asked Teddy, looking up from the article he had been reading with blurred, tired eyes.
"The day the Raeverri's parents were killed, the new Minister of Magic also gave his first public speech in Diagon Alley," Victoire began to explain. She was standing now, pacing back and forth in surprise. "A driver, named Paul Richards, a Muggle-born, was boasting about how he had driven the new Minister of Magic. It was in the article about the Minister, not about the death. But," she continued, "the man said he drove the Minister from his speech to the street of Raeverri's home! But nobody investigated that matter because they were in two different articles so didn't seem to be of any relation or importance.
"But, get this! Two days after the articles were released, the driver Paul Richards, was found dead in his bed," Victoire finished. "Don't you get it?" she asked Teddy who was slowly dawning on the realization. "The Minister killed Raeverri's parents."
The two sat in shocked silence, trying to take in what they had learned.
"What is that smell?" Teddy asked, breaking the silence. He stood up and peered over the bookcase. He cursed at the sight of a raging fire, quickly spreading among the bookcases. "We need to go- NOW!" he cried and grabbed Victoire by the arm, abandoning their books and coats.
They rushed towards the exit, dodging the fires and falling, flaming books. Suddenly, spells were being thrown at them from all directions. They ran along as fast as they could go, jumping and dodging the spells and flames. They turned a corner and stopped in their tracks as they saw the entrance flaming, blocking their way out. Teddy cursed and looked around the room desperately as Victoire shot back spells hazardously.
"Quick!" Teddy said, pulling Victoire to the left. "This way!" They ran again towards a small door, most likely the trash dispenser. They reached it just in time, nearly being hit by a deathly green curse. Teddy pushed open the door and it swung outwards, hinging at the top. He looked down. A silver steel chute led down and down until, and Teddy hoped it wasn't just a trick of the light, it opened over a trash bin beneath the winter night sky. "You go first," he instructed Victoire and helped her into the chute. "Make sure nobody is down there waiting for us," he said before she let go and slid down the chute, her blue dress being pulled up. It caught onto a nail and Teddy worried that she would be stuck there. But, after a few seconds of being caught, the fabric tore off and Victoire fell into the trash bin.
Firing back a few curses, Teddy climbed into the chute and fled from the burning library, into the stinky but safe rubbish.
"Need a hand?" Victoire asked, offering her own. Teddy grinned, his hair turning purple, and grabbed on. The world spun away until they were safely landed in the Potter's living room, a crowd of worried family members surrounding them.