The week ended and the next came with no word from Igor Karkaroff. The aurors had sent an owl and even called multiple times in order to get in touch with him about the school's records on Gellert Grindelwald. While waiting for a response, they consulted Saul Croaker again and updated the Minister for Magic in person concerning the Davis case.
Minister Shackelbolt had been keeping up with every note and file sent to him by the Office of Investigations as everything progressed, but touching ground face to face occasionally was for good measure.
"This situation is causing me much grief," the minister growled, easing back in his office chair and pressing fingertips together in front of him to create a partial pyramid. "This wizard or whatever he is is a walking time bomb and we're softly picking at him waiting for an explosion."
"Do you feel we should be handling this differently?" Harry asked.
Behind his arch, the minister's eyes slightly enlarged then fell back to their rest. "No," he said, "You're conducting it how it needs to be. We need to know that he has no room to move once we do arrest him. Gerald might be ignorant of how magical law works, but Oliver Smith certainly isn't. We don't want his friend using our own rules against us for Gerald's best interest. From what I've seen, the man will choose his friend over consideration to what's right and wrong."
"I feel the same about him," the dark haired auror agreed.
"The good news is," Shackelbolt dropped his hands, "If his inhumanity can be proven...even just well enough, it will be easier to handle him in custody. As of now, wizards and those creatures of 'less than human intelligence' are still not seen as equals under the law. If we can show he's not a wizard, but a creature, the fact that he looks human and lives as a human will mean nothing."
"I hate that that is true," Harry spoke softly, but never looked away from the minister.
The older wizard paused for a moment, studying the younger man, "This isn't a time for politics, Mr. Potter. We have to do what we must to keep the people protected even if that means using an unjust law to our advantage."
The two rested eyes on each other for a moment of silent contemplation before Harry responded, "I know, sir."
The aurors left the minister's office and headed back to their own. It would be just over a week before the concert in London which was when they planned to have Draco confront Gerald. Harry had worked up doubt that it would actually be of any use to them. If he had trouble sharing things with the two people closest to him, why should he say anything to Draco? Harry foresaw the meeting ending in a fight over anything else as both men were known to be temperamental.
But if Draco was able to make his father's killer feel that he knew something that would lead to his arrest or reveal what he was to others... Like Hermione said, more deaths meant more ammo against Gerald who has made it clear by both words and actions that he doesn't want himself to be known in such a way. So maybe he would divulge something in order to satisfy Draco and keep him from caring about anything more.
His father's killer.
The phrase made Harry's thoughts jump to that of his own father's murder...his mother's murder... If Lucius was the one to be trusted about Gerald's past, it had almost been one of them who had killed Harry's parents and taken Harry to Voldemort. Away from his mother's presence...would the boy have survived the killing curse? And if he had, being in the lair of the dark lord, would he just have been slain by another's hand when their master failed?
And why had Gerald wanted Voldemort dead? The man that had brought him into the magical world, taught him wizardry and revealed to him his past, Gerald's first friend whom he still clung to and grieved for... No. Harry couldn't believe that Gerald wanted Voldemort dead.
Gerald wanted himself dead.
That's why he stuck around...why he tested the dark lord's patience and never truly fought back... These three years since Voldemort's death, Gerald had even tried to take his own life... What haunted him so terribly that this was his wish?
Because I own him. It had been Voldemort's answer to the continuous disgruntled behaviour and the reason Gerald followed him for so many years. But the friendship that the white-haired man held to had never existed... Voldemort never even hid his intentions for using Gerald from him so why couldn't he see past that? Voldemort DID own him because the man had never known anything but isolation. It had been a young Tom Riddle that opened his eyes and let him into the world. To Gerald, this was a friend as it was all he ever knew. And it explained the confusion he had about how to treat Oliver and Brad.
Turning the corner inside the Investigations Office with its desks and paper piles, Harry found himself feeling sorry for their subject. His mind flashed a picture of the scars on the man's chest. Drinking, drugs, suicide attempts...the mostly indifferent attitude and the moodiness. Was Gerald a monster or just messed up from life? Depressed?
The auror sighed. It doesn't matter. In the end, he has done what he's done and is continuing in a destructive path. Lucius was right- he is unstable and his mind is warped. That, if nothing else, makes him dangerous. Sympathy for having a rough life couldn't outweigh keeping the innocent safe.
"You're overthinking things again, aren't ya, mate?" Ron glanced at his partner while opening an envelope he had picked up from the desk.
"Maybe," Harry whispered.
"Well, we've gotten an answer from Karkaroff," the redhead's gaze was on the letter in his hands again. "Apparently they've been having some trouble at Durmstrang..." his eyes scrolled over the ink on the parchment, "A break-in or something. A group of wizards tore apart the main hall and several of the teachers' rooms including the headmaster's office. He says many files were stolen or destroyed...Gellert Grindelwald's was among them."
Harry paused only momentarily before speaking as Ron looked up at him, "That is quite a coincidence."
The other auror shrugged.
"Do they have any clue as to who they were or why they did this?" Harry asked.
"Doesn't say. Just that several items of value were stolen and that they're working on resolving the matter," Ron handed the letter over to his partner.
The head investigator took the paper, reading it quickly before sighing and reaching for the phone. He dialed Durmstrang Institute, hoping that the letter was indicative that things had settled enough for the headmaster to be available for his call.
"I take it you've received my owl," Igor Karkaroff answered almost immediately. "I expected another ring when you did."
"Yes, headmaster, thank you," Harry returned, putting the letter down onto his own desk. "I was wondering if-"
"I do have a few more details for you," Karkaroff presumed the auror's question, "but I need something from you in return."
Harry hesitated, "What is that?"
"Like you do, I feel that it is no accident this has happened directly about the time when you called for the records on Grindelwald. I want to be informed of what is going on with Gerald Davis. Who he is and the reason for the sudden interests in him," Karkaroff clarified.
The lead auror took a deep breath in, "I'm not at liberty to share anything, headmaster."
"Hm..." Karkaroff hummed, seeming to begin trailing away from the conversation.
"I can talk to Minister Shackelbolt though, sir," Harry jumped back in, "And ask that you be kept in the loop as our ally."
"Hm. Fair enough," the headmaster agreed. "The intruders' group was fairly small. Maybe ten men. We believe a student may have been the reason they were able to get inside so easily without setting anything off. However," the headmaster cleared his throat, "We were able to stop two of the robbers as they fled."
"That's good," Harry stated awkwardly. "Have you learned anything from them?"
"It's hard to get secrets from a dead man, Mr. Potter," the ex-deatheater replied slyly.
The auror paused. Then, upon remembering Durmstrang's notoriety for loose handling of dark magic, spoke in an almost demeaning manner, "Maybe attacking to kill wasn't the best line of action."
The headmaster scoffed loudly, the hard breath staticking the phone for an instant, "They killed themselves. Our school guards merely stopped them from running and disarmed them of their wands. Do you know what a bagh nakh is, Mr. Potter?"
"I don't," Harry answered.
"Well, you should teach yourself," Karkaroff chuckled. "The intruders slit their own throats. The cuts were too quick and too deep for us to save them. Even if they hadn't been, our herbologist found a subtle yet extremely toxic poison on their weapons."
"Whatever they knew, it must have been very precious to them," Harry observed, "that they felt they must die to ensure it remained hidden."
"The thing is, Mr. Potter," Karkaroff kept on, "We believe the wizards were being controlled by someone else."
"Use of the Imperius Curse?" Harry said.
"No, Mr. Potter. The one pulling the strings was no wizard," the ex-deatheater explained, "We found markings on the intruders' necks. Two small punctures maybe a couple of centimeters apart from each other."
Fang wounds? Harry thought. Vampires again?
"You think some creature was using them?" the auror responded vaguely, waiting for Karkaroff to specify his exact belief.
A laugh sounded on the other end. "Vampires do exist, Harry. Something known more in my country than elsewhere with Romania being their origin... But these beings don't reveal themselves lightly. That should be obvious even to you," Karkaroff almost spat, "so whatever it is going on with this man you are investigating...it must be of grave importance to warrant such a move from them."
"I understand," Harry murmured.
"Very well," Karkaroff's voice became formal again, "I'll be expecting word from you regarding our arrangement before you contact me asking for more information."
"O-of course," Harry stuttered, sounding a bit desperate to keep the other wizard happy, "Thank you."
Hanging up the phone, Harry turned to Ron and quickly spoke, "Doesn't your brother Charlie work in Romania?"
"Well yeah," the redhead squeaked, "That's where the dragon sanctuary is."
"Does he have much contact with the people native there?" Harry continued.
"I would think so, yeah. He lives there most of the time," Ron answered, "Why?"
AUTHOR'S NOTE:: Bagh nakh (bagh naka) is a weapon originally created in India. It consists of a metal frame that fits around the knuckles with four or five curved blades hidden underneath the user's palm. The name translated means 'tiger claw' and was designed to mimic such in order to tear through skin and muscle with ease.