Chapter 20: Mind Control
The following morning, Claire was summoned to Dumbledore's office. Naturally, she was worried because she thought he might have caught wind of the Circle's late night meeting. But when she arrived, Olivia Green was present.
"Good morning, Claire," Dumbledore said. "Professor Green requested you to be here."
"We're going to look at the memory vials you found in my office using Professor Dumbledore's Pensieve," Olivia said to Claire.
"Oh," Claire exclaimed. "I didn't know you wanted us to look at them together."
"It only seemed fair since you were the one who talked me into looking at them in the first place," replied Olivia. "And who knows? Maybe you'll see something in my memories that I don't see."
"Should I know anything about how Pensieves work, Professor?" Claire asked Dumbledore.
"You can't interact with the people and things inside the memories," Dumbledore stated. "They won't be able to see, hear, or feel you."
Claire looked at the Pensieve, which resembled a stone washbasin filled with a shimmering water that glowed.
"How do you look at the memories?" Claire said, noticing the box of memory vials was next to the Pensieve.
"Just stick your face in and voila! Memories," Olivia answered. "Now let's do it before I change my mind."
Dumbledore then poured the contents of the memory vials into the Pensieve, causing multicolored drops to appear in the shimmering water. Nodding in unison, Olivia and Claire dipped their heads in the Pensieve's water. Claire soon found herself in a black void, which reminded her of the final Cursed Vault. Then just as quickly, she saw a younger Olivia appear next to Jacob who were both wearing Ravenclaw uniforms.
"It'll be fine, Liv," Jacob said to Olivia.
Sighing, Olivia said, "Do you really want me to list all the times when it wasn't fine?"
"We have to do this," Jacob insisted.
Olivia briefly clenched her fists. "I just can't believe you persuaded Duncan to brew a super Erumpent Potion."
Jacob and Olivia then vanished. Now Olivia was crouched behind Rakepick, who was standing in front of a mirror.
Folding her arms in her usual manner, Rakepick said to the mirror, "I'm well aware of the plan. Mr. Ashe is preparing himself so to speak."
Rakepick then said some things Claire couldn't hear very well, but Olivia seemed to as she got up and stormed away.
"Why, that sneaky no-good witch!" Olivia grumbled. "Jacob and Duncan should know this!"
As Rakepick disappeared, Claire now saw Olivia crying in front of Jacob.
"Liv…," Jacob said.
Drying her eyes, Olivia shouted, "This is your fault! Duncan wouldn't have…if you hadn't pushed him…."
"This must be after Duncan died," Claire assumed.
Olivia then walked away from Jacob.
"Where are you going?" Jacob asked Olivia.
"To see Madam Rakepick," Olivia said and kept walking.
Jacob tried to follow her as his image faded again. This time, Olivia was glaring at Rakepick.
"How dare you!" Olivia snapped.
"Excuse me?" Rakepick said with a confused expression.
"I know what you're up to," Olivia continued. "Was Duncan's death part of your 'plan'?"
"Duncan's death was unfortunate."
"Shut up! I heard you talking about your plan earlier."
"Oh? Well, that won't do." Rakepick then took out her wand and said, "Petrificus Totalus!"
While Olivia tried to get away, she was frozen in place.
"No!" Claire moved forward, but then quickly realized she couldn't interact with the memories happening right in front of her.
"You have no one but yourself to blame for this," Rakepick said as she stepped up to the frozen Olivia. "If you had just kept your mouth shut, this wouldn't have happened. But no matter! Now I have some assurance against 'R' should they ever try to double-cross me. All I need is your memories, Miss Green. You won't remember anything about 'R,' the plan, even me."
"So it was Rakepick who removed Olivia's memories," Claire realized. "Was there anything else I missed?"
Looking back through the memories one more time, Claire listened to everything that was said. But before she could interpret what Rakepick was muttering to the mirror, she found herself looking up from the Pensieve. Olivia wasn't looking in the Pensieve anymore, with a shocked expression on her face. She didn't say anything and walked out of Dumbledore's office.
"Hmm, what did she see?" Dumbledore wondered out loud.
"She knew Duncan had brewed the Erumpent Potion that killed him," Claire explained. "And she also overheard something that Rakepick said, which led to Rakepick taking away her memories of 'R.'"
"That is troubling," Dumbledore said solemnly. "But you seem just as troubled. Perhaps it has to do with why you wanted to tell me something later?"
Claire knew there was no backing out of this one, and so she said quietly, "My real father, Peregrine, is…the leader of 'R.'"
Dumbledore's brow furrowed for a moment. "Since he came into my office, I suspected something was off with your father, and your obsession with 'R'…. It really adds up."
"What will you do about it?"
"I'm not sure. Approaching the Ministry with this information might endanger you and Jacob. There is also the safety of Hogwarts and the other students to consider."
"What about me? Is there anything I can do?"
"For now, I suggest you and Professor Green should talk about the memories you saw."
"All right. I'll talk to her right away."
Leaving Dumbledore's office, Claire made her way to Olivia's office. She knocked first to be polite, and entered when Olivia gave her permission.
"Funny how you showed up just as I was thinking about you, Claire," Olivia remarked.
"I thought we could talk about the memories," Claire said. "And if you don't, let me know."
"Honestly, those memories were daunting," Olivia admitted. "There were times when I wanted to not look, but I thought about your friend Rowan and knew that I had to keep watching for both of our sakes."
"Actually, I wanted to ask you some questions. There were some things in those memories I couldn't hear well, like when you were eavesdropping on Rakepick. Did you hear what she was saying, about the plan?"
Olivia thought for a moment. "Yes, I did. And that's why she tampered with my memories."
"Then you know what the plan is?"
Nodding, Olivia said, "I heard Rakepick say 'R' was planning to root out corruption in the Ministry of Magic using some kind of…mind control device?"
To be continued…