Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the world of HP.
A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. Much of this story is prewritten, so I will be updating periodically through the week.
Time continued to pass and Alice remained isolated in the interrogation room. She had pulled the chair over to the side table in order to have somewhere to rest her head. She was getting a terrible headache from the lack of food in her system. Luckily, a young witch had come in carrying a tray with a bowl of hearty vegetable soup and some bread. She placed it on the table near Alice and left. Alice was apprehensive at first, smelling the food for any hint of poison, but her hunger overtook her fear and she ate. The whole time she wondered and worried about what tests they could be performing with her blood and hair samples and what would become of her afterwards.
Draco had returned to the department's laboratory where earlier that day he had prepared several cauldrons full of testing potions. He unlocked their lids through incantation and quickly checked their color and smell to make sure they coagulated correctly. Filling several flasks of different brews, he withdrew the two glass vials from his inner coat pocket. Using tweezers he carefully dropped a strand of Alice's hair into the first flask, noting the reaction and color, which had turned pale purple. He repeated the test with a different brew of the same mixture in order to verify the results. It also turned pale purple. Next, he slowly dripped two drops of Alice's blood into a third flask. Suddenly, a unique reaction occurred. The brew hissed and turned bright red before dimming to a faint mauve color, the smoke exuded was green. Draco repeated the test with a fourth flask and the same reaction happened. A magical quill was overhead recording all results in duplicate, as a means of verification for the department.
The test results were unexpected and Draco stared pensively at the table before him. He grabbed a well-worn book on reading reactions, which he had retrieved earlier from the laboratory library. He wanted to double check what he apparently saw. Then he ran two more experiments in order to obtain more clues. Only after knowing his results were conclusive, he dictated it to the quill and returned to the department's office to share the news.
That morning the Special Cases Unit had been bombarded with memos to offer comment to The Daily Prophet. Blaise was noticeably frustrated by this. Of all the cases his office had successfully worked on, why did the press decide to publicize one concerning a muggle. He seriously hoped this wouldn't define his career. The Ministry's Public Relations office was also concerned, as they are when any inside news is leaked to the public. They wanted Blaise to offer a public statement at the end of the day in order to remedy the situation. These events had not made him think kindly of the muggle woman. He was optimistic, however, that if no inside wizarding world sources were found to have leaked information, then her jurisdiction would fall squarely with the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, and more specifically the Muggle Liaison Office. Her mind would be obliviated and she would return to her world, then Blaise could move onto a more important case.
Upon Draco's return, the case's team members gathered in the meeting chamber to hear the results of the tests. Draco handed out duplicates of the data and composed himself before beginning. "The results were conclusive. Alice McNally is three-fourth muggle, one-fourth witch. It is right to assume that the unnamed grandfather on her mother's side was a wizard." Surprised looks filled the small room.
"She doesn't seem to possess any magical abilities," replied one of the wizards in the group. "A squib?"
"It would explain why the Muggle-Repelling Charm didn't have the desired effect at the Leaky Cauldron," remarked Blaise, recalling Alice's easy entry into the pub. Most muggles who encountered such charmed places should have immediately been reminded of an important appointment and left without another thought.
"That's what I assumed," Draco continued, "But, I also ran a test to see if she possessed the magical gene and she does. Technically she should have developed her abilities as a child."
"So, she's pretending not to be a witch?" Blaise crossed his arms, a bit offended by the thought.
"Not exactly," Draco interrupted, "Her magical gene was repressed by an outside force, an enchantment. It's a very rare piece of magic that can actually block a person's magical ability completely. Considering her background, the enchantment must have been cast when she was young so she never developed any magical abilities."
The meeting room was silent for a moment as the members considered the implications of taking away what all of them couldn't imagine living without.
"The question is why," Draco had verbalized what everyone in the room was thinking.
"We need to find out the identity of her unknown grandfather, considering the rest are confirmed muggles. It's worth cross-checking her ancestry with the Azkaban blood database to see if there's a familial match." Blaise said authoritatively. The database was parallel to the non-magical world's fingerprint and DNA matching system. The Ministry had kept blood records on all incarcerated individuals and could check for matches when necessary.
"Already started but it may take some time," Draco added.
Blaise nodded to Draco approvingly, and then added, "Despite this, her ancestry allows the department to charge her for violating the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. They'll decide her memory's fate and," he looked specifically at the team's assistant, "I'll need the paperwork drawn up."
The group dispersed and a violet purple piece of parchment, which a magical quill had taken the meeting's minutes on, folded itself into an airplane and quickly zoomed its way through the door. It would be travelling to level 3 to alert those who were jointly working on the Alice McNally case.
Within minutes of the plane's absence, a new interdepartmental memo arrived falling in front of a slightly annoyed Blaise.
Dear Blaise Zabini,
Upon conclusive evidence that Alice McNally is not a complete muggle, she will become the sole responsibility of your team in the Special Cases Unit. Matters concerning her book have been eradicated in the non-magical world and the Department of Magical Events and Catastrophes considers their involvement in the case closed. All following issues surrounding Alice McNally now falls squarely on your unit.
Sincerely,
Dusty Clementine
Muggle Liaison Office Head
Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
"Figures," Blaise remarked sarcastically, his earlier hopes of ridding himself of this case now crushed. Upon the Ministry of Magic's request, he would have to prepare a public statement in order to quench the thirst of the hungry media who would most likely spin this case into something it was not - newsworthy.