Chapter Twenty-Five

Scrutineers

Rhiain trudged slowly over to the lake, hissing to herself from time to time. Her belly was hurting and she wanted the pain to go away. The cold water helped with that sometimes.

"Rhiain! Wait for me!"

She looked over her shoulder to see Neville Longbottom levitating a large trough full of something green, that jiggled inside the confines and threatened to slop over every so often. There was something clamped on either side of the trough with a wide head. She could see that whatever the green stuff was, it was evaporating somewhat. The tendrils of the chilled water vapor in the air around it looked a lot like smoke to the dragon and she wondered what Neville was up to. Apparently, several other students had been wondering the same thing in the past few minutes and were following him at a bit of a distance, but were not volunteering to help him move the trough.

She checked to see if she was within the bounds of the translation charm and moved over twenty-five feet so she could speak to Neville and find out what he was up to. Her curiosity had been triggered. He adjusted his path when he saw that she was looking for the little white posts that delineated the boundaries. By the time she had wheezed her way nearby, he had set everything down and unclamped one of the objects from a side. It was a wide broom. Knowing that much didn't help with wondering what he was up to. Was he going to do something with her scales?

She wasn't averse to a nice scrub, to be honest.

"Sturdy Grower? What's all this?"

"I've gotten something made up for your belly. It's a mixture of aloe vera, water, and some of Madam Pomfrey's pain potion. Some of the dragon handlers helped me mix it."

"But…" Rhiain was confused.

"Stretch out. I can see that it's bothering you. I'm going to apply this to that area on your belly. It doesn't look like it feels good."

"No… it doesn't," she grumped at him, but eased herself down. Right now, she'd welcome anything!

Neville looked at her with a raised eyebrow. The dragon handlers had told him that she could be a bit stubborn and a bit of a diva about things. It had to be hurting her more than she wanted to let on to agree to what he said. The hisses of steam from her nostrils and jerky motions told him more that he didn't comment on but knew well enough about.

She folded her wings in and managed to sprawl on her back.

"Sun feels good," she murmured, more to herself than to Neville.

"Ready?" The question was asked, a bit of hesitance in his voice. "It's going to be cold."

She nodded, the purple eyes meeting his brown eyes. If it was cold, maybe it would ease some of the pain.

For his part, Neville realized that he had outsmarted himself since Rhiain's belly was now at a level taller than his head. He was thinking furiously about how he was going to do this, when a squeaky voice nearby spoke up.

"Problems, Mister Longbottom?"

He turned to see Professor Flitwick had followed him out to see what he was doing with the trough and had heard what he said to the Welsh Green.

"I seem to have realized something, sir."

Rhiain snorted, but didn't move. She could see what the problem was, but was too comfortable at the moment to want to shift her position around.

"Well, then. Let's make this an applied lesson in Charms, shall we?" He looked around. "And since we have other students here, we can have more help."

The others looked like they wanted to scatter to get out of what looked like work, when he added in the most blithe manner Neville had ever heard, "For extra credit, of course. What do you think, Hagrid?"

Since most of the students had blue trim in their robes and Flitwick was their Head of House, they knew that they were trapped. None of them, except maybe Rhiain and Professor Flitwick himself, knew that Hagrid had approached. Their attention had been on whatever Neville was doing and wasn't looking around their area.

"Oh, aye. Lovely lady like this deserves some pamperin' if that sore spot looks like anything. Do it right and there's some extra credit for Care of Magical Creatures, too." He smiled up at Rhiain, who puffed some smoke at him.

Flitwick was busy using a Levitation Charm to stack rocks and benches to form several platforms for them to work from. Hagrid didn't need it, thanks to his greater height, but he was able to look at Rhiain's injury with a wince.

"It's healing, looks like, but looks painful fer sure," he mumbled which of course, was very audible to everyone else. Rhiain nodded in silence. She was well aware!

The other students looked like they were going to mention that Neville was the only one with a broom and didn't look like he was going to give it up. They ignored the other broom on the other side of Neville's trough as hard as they could. Such would mean that they couldn't be expected to participate, when they saw several deadwood branches transfigure themselves into brooms. Those hadn't been collected yet from the fight and had been laying around waiting to be picked up.

Everyone turned to see Professor McGonagall putting her wand away with a repressed smile, Domir peering over her shoulder in curiosity. Everyone had been busy with the spectacle of a Welsh Green stretched out and hadn't seen her approach either.

The students couldn't think of anything to say, especially with a humongous Horntail regarding them. The experiences with the dragons had broken some of the fear of interactions away from them, but Domir's sheer size reminded them of some of the things they'd grown up with.

"Oh, don't worry, Professors Flitwick and Hagrid. I'm not going to conduct an impromptu Transfiguration lesson as well. I'll make it easier for your students. Domir, however, wanted to observe, as he recognized the scent of the pain potions in whatever that is in Mister Longbottom's trough. Plus, he is the recognized draconic healer and would like to be here in case anything happens."

Domir nodded. He reached a curious talon into the trough and scooped up a bit of the mixture. It was lifted to his nose to sniff, and the healer nodded in thought after a moment. He looked at Neville.

"Mister Longbottom, how did you come by this concoction?"

Neville looked the Horntail in the eye and tried not to think about how he would have reacted to the same action even six months ago.

"I have greenhouses at home and many of the plants that I have there can be used for homeopathic remedies for things like burns, aches, pains and the like. They've been used for many years and part of the Longbottom family knowledge addresses this. Rhiain is my friend and I asked one of my family house elves for books from the Longbottom Family Library that referred to these things to help her. This mixture is one of the things that helps with cuts, burns, and pain. The house elves helped me with the volume, since mixing it by hand would have taken forever."

"Hmmm." The big dragon regarded Neville for a moment. "You really should be careful with applying remedies to your patients before getting a complete workup and history on them, Sturdy Grower." The voice was a bit chiding, but not overly so.

Neville lowered his eyes just a hair, but returned them to Domir's eyes as the big dragon spoke.

"However, as I happen to know Rhiain's history, I can judge the efficacy of this treatment if you tell me what this mixture is."

Neville told him, down to the proportions and Domir nodded after some consideration. Everyone could see him ticking things off in some orderly mental checklist the big dragon kept in his mind.

"I see no problems. Aloe is known to us by another name, along with the other components. I will gather a list of other things to try in this mixture later. There will be descriptions of what those are, where they can be found, and their accepted uses along with expected results. You can compare them with your family knowledge, and I would like a report on your thoughts on the similarities and differences. Concentrate on usefulness for healing of either species."

Neville winced to himself. He was trying to do something nice for his friend and was getting an assignment set in return! And by a huge dragon, to boot! He didn't see the grins on the faces of his professors or the relief on the faces of the students that had been pressed into helping him. Domir went on, addressing Rhiain.

"Rhiain, you will come to see me later if you have unexpected problems from this treatment. I recommend twice a day for ten days. Allow it to soak into your skin and scales for at least an hour before you go into the water and do your best not to make contact with the ground before then."

The Welsh Green nodded, a bit impatiently. Domir waved a very sharp talon at the students and Rhiain.

"Carry on. I will remain for a bit to oversee the application of the treatment and maybe learn something myself," he nodded to the professors, clearly entertained by some thought. So saying, he made himself comfortable. Professor McGonagall nodded to herself in some amusement as she watched the draconic healer arrange himself to watch. He was already tapping a talon on one of his fangs in clear thought, she saw. The others tried to ignore that.

"Twenty points to Gryffindor for initiative, Mister Longbottom, and ten each to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff for their assistance. I have to return to the castle to prepare for an upcoming meeting, but I would like to have a report later on how this worked out – subject to medical privacy, of course. I imagine both Hagrid and Madam Pomfrey would be interested in seeing what you come up for Domir, as well, should he give you permission."

Neville agreed. Did dragons even do that? he wondered to himself. His thoughts were cut off as Professor Flitwick clapped his hands together in glee and immediately started his lecture.

"Now, as this involves motion and application of a substance via varying levels of force, you should use different combinations of the Levitation, Banishing, and Summoning Charms."

The Charms professor proceeded to demonstrate with another branch, subtly showing that the students were to actually do all the application of Neville's salve. Hagrid pointed out certain areas and gave mini lectures about dragon body parts and abilities. He took the opportunity to pat Rhiain on the shoulder as he spoke. He really couldn't help himself, everyone knew. She didn't mind.

Domir watched for a while, amused at the giggles and steaming snorts Rhiain couldn't contain as the brooms tickled her. He mentioned to Neville and the others that the salve needed to be spread from her chest down almost to the middle of her tail, as the inferior elevation nerves in Rhiain's specific breed had an interlocking mesh arrangement that needed to be seen to. This allowed for increased redundancy in the transmission of impulses to and from muscles, organs, skin, and scales. The Horntail sounded like a professor himself, the others thought. Hagrid seemed to want to be taking notes as the dragon spoke.

There was a good bit of embarrassment as Rhiain relaxed and spread her back legs to either side to let the salve be applied evenly but no one said anything, especially when she fell asleep. She snored a bit as she slept. Neville was sure that if she was asleep, she wasn't in pain.

Domir grunted something to himself and eyed Neville in hidden amusement. The Gryffindor thought again to the Neville of six months ago as he looked into the somewhat golden eyes.

"Let her sleep, lad. It won't hurt her and I imagine she hasn't been resting well anyway, thanks to recent events. Remind her to come see me later, understand? I have things that I still need to see to today, anyway. Good job, lad, good job."

Neville nodded at the rumbling voice that shook him down to the bones, wondering if he was somehow being given patient care instructions. He watched as the large dragon crept away a lot more quietly than he'd ever thought a dragon could before taking flight. Neville looked at the others. Professor Flitwick grinned at him and Hagrid gave him a thumbs-up as they walked away. The students scattered, leaving their brooms in various places.

He sighed. Of course he was going to have to clean all this up without waking up a sleeping dragon. It didn't help that one broom had somehow found its way under Rhiain's tail and it wasn't one of the transfigured ones.

Neville decided that one was going to stay right where it was.

|:-:|

Later that day, Robert Russell was surprised by the appearance of a summons of some kind materializing by his hand. He had decided to treat his wife to a meal in Hogsmeade and show her some of the things that he grew up with. She was suitably impressed, and he wondered what she would have thought about the goblins at Gringotts. Since they hadn't had the opportunity to visit Diagon Alley, neither of them knew what would happen when she found out. From the way she got on with Professor Flitwick, it probably wouldn't be anything to worry about.

He hoped. Some of them could be real bastards.

The summons, however, used certain language that any healer or doctor would know regardless of where they stood on the line between their respective specialties and abilities. The name within the text of the summons was the clue to the whole thing.

Harry Potter.

Robbie had somehow found the time after all the excitement to examine young Mister Potter after introducing himself and explaining what he was at Hogwarts for. Madam Pomfrey's help in arranging a place for him to perform the examination helped out with the others that needed to do the same thing. Harry looked confused at all the others in the room, but calmed down when it was explained that Arthur Weasley had 'contacts' who were here as a favor to him. The quotes around the words were heard by everyone in the room.

It had taken all of his Occlumency ability to maintain his facial expression as his quill-linked parchment recorded both his wanded and subvocalized observations. There were things that should never have been visited upon a child. The others did their own examinations and asked questions of Harry, and everyone took the opportunity to put him to sleep for other tests that couldn't be done while awake. There were some things that Robbie wanted to do oriented from his muggle medical training that unfortunately he couldn't, thanks to the active magic around Hogwarts. He didn't have the equipment here, anyway, so that was out.

He had long come to the conclusion that magic was just another form of energy that interfered with electronics in some way. Some worked regardless, he knew, but Hogwarts had something specifically that just messed everything up. It wasn't his specialty, so he just accepted it with a sigh and went on with things.

Madam Pomfrey had taken all of them to her office to make copies of Harry Potter's file, with all Healer security magics intact. They wondered why she was adding another to the security magics and decided that there was another person that was to examine him. Whoever that person was couldn't be here for whatever reason, and she didn't say anything other than "You'll know him when you see him."

The summons had specified that the examination would take place in the evening, and that all Healers involved had been requested to attend. A couple had left Hogwarts earlier claiming the need to get some parchmentwork done and filed, and the air about those two had made Robbie think cop. He didn't know why precisely he didn't think auror instead, since they both did pretty much the same thing, but shook it off to focus on where he was going.

Oddly enough, his wife's presence was requested along with the adult Grangers.

What is going on? He had no idea, and his medical and Healer roles both were confused. This was definitely a medical-type document, common enough between the magical and muggle worlds that one could easily stand in for the other. But non-medical personnel involved? Well, other than the Grangers who had their own qualifications, that was. But Félicité? She wasn't a doctor or a nurse or anyone remotely connected, unless there was a lawsuit to be filed. She was an attorney.

His eyes narrowed at that. Was there something else in her inclusion? She knew about magic, after all. There was surely something going on that stank to high heaven, but who was doing what?

He passed the summons over to her and she read it after an inquisitive look at him.

"Robbie? Why am I invited?"

"I don't know, sweetheart, but I suppose the best way to find out is to attend."

"This is at the school?"

"Yes, and that's something to wonder about, too. Why not St. Mungo's – the magical hospital – or one of the clinics? Some of those names on the list aren't anyone that I know to work in Healing."

"Healing and not medicine?" Félicité had picked up on his use of terms.

"Well, the number of British magical healers are low, compared to British medical personnel without magic. Everyone I met with earlier had a magical core. If Dan and Emma had been there, then they wouldn't of course, but… I don't know. Something is going on and the Headmaster wouldn't have let whatever this is be held on the grounds of the school without a very, very good reason."

"When is it?" She had forgotten that she had the summons in her hand, but waved off the answer when she remembered. "Sunset. Why sunset? Wouldn't it make more sense to do this in the daytime when there's more light?"

"I don't know but there's one way to find out. The wards are strong around the castle, and I can feel them from here. The Headmaster is doing something and it would be best if we were there. Not knowing what's going on is irritating."

He didn't mention that some magicals were less than intelligent and did things that made no sense. She regarded him with a raised eyebrow, and he suddenly remembered that since she didn't have magic herself, she didn't know either.

"Sorry, sweetheart." He fumbled out his watch and looked at it. "We need to go if we're going to be there in time enough to find out before sunset."

She nodded and delicately wiped her mouth. He paid the check and they left, headed back up to the castle. He pointed out various things and related some stories from his time at school and she silently noted that he didn't mention any hippogriffs.

Félicité would ask later, and had Robbie noticed, he would have found something to distract her. Hagrid had looked like he was bursting to tell that story, and she still wanted to know what a hippogriff was, anyway.

Thankfully for him, the half-giant wasn't around. He was probably tending to various things around the grounds, both thought, and Robbie led his wife to the area specified on the summons. They could see that there was a small group of people milling around with similar-looking parchments in their hands.

Harry Potter was also there, along with both adult Grangers and Professor McGonagall. She was talking to one of the biggest dragons he'd ever seen in his life – not that he went around comparing relative sizes or anything. The dragon had something around his neck that rested gently upon his scales.

Félicité gasped.

"Robbie!" she hissed. "Is she talking to a dragon?"

He was a bit surprised himself, to put it mildly. It took him a moment to answer. Félicité was adjusting better to the idea of dragons casually conversing with humans better than he was, since he just wanted to curl up in a ball and gibber.

"Looks a lot like it. What the hell is going on here?"

There wasn't any answer, especially after they saw Dan Granger approach another dragon. This one was silver. He introduced himself, from what they could tell without really being able to hear what he said, and after a moment the dragon opened her mouth for a moment. They could see him raise an eyebrow and say something to her in that stern way they knew he had.

The dragon hung her head in response.

Hung her head?

What?

That was going on the rapidly expanding list of questions, with number one being the question he'd just asked.

Dan said something else to the dragon and she perked up.

"Robbie?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Doesn't Danny look like he's talking to a patient right now, or is it just me?"

"Um… actually, now that you mention it…"

The thought of a dragon in a dentist's chair came up and he had to force it down in case he laughed too loud. The further thought of a dragon digging through a wallet or purse before providing an insurance card and a credit card to pay for the dental work didn't help. The hilarity that he was trying to suppress was interrupted by a woman's voice.

"Everyone, please gather over here!"

The voice came from a woman that he remembered was named Monica. She'd been one of the two that left the examination who'd given him law enforcement officer vibes.

Everyone obligingly went over. There was a soft thudding sound and the ground shook, and Robbie saw that a third dragon had arrived… with two others?

Five dragons? And no one else was running around screaming like he wanted to do?

"Everyone, the dragons are here for the same purpose you are. Relax."

Robbie watched as Harry Potter hissed something to the green one, who shrugged in return. There was a distinct wince on the reptilian face and his eyes were drawn to the obvious wound on the dragon's belly. It looked a bit stretched, but he ignored that in favor of another question that shoved to the front of his mind.

Harry Potter was a Parselmouth?

What else was he going to learn tonight?

He and Félicité followed the directions Monica gave them, moving them over to a rock that she directed the Boy-Who-Lived onto. It was within the boundaries of something marked with white posts and he saw the dragons carefully step over them one by one. Robbie saw that one of the dragons, a Horntail like the one Professor McGonagall had been talking to, trundled up to Harry and was talking to him in a low voice.

He could hear conversation, not hissing!

Félicité stared at his reaction.

"Robbie? Is he talking to a dragon?" She didn't realize that she'd asked the same question earlier, with a different gender in the subject.

"It damn sure looks like it."

"I'm confused."

"You're not the only one. I'm far past confused."

There were seats nearby that he hadn't noticed and he sank down on one. Félicité sat down beside him, and the others sat down as they noticed the seats. Monica noticed.

"Okay, we don't have much time, so I'll give quick introductions for those who don't know the others. Dragons, too. I should mention that we are within an ancient translation charm that allows us to talk to them."

"Wow," he murmured to his wife.

"First, as representative to Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall, Deputy Head. The Headmaster had to remain in the castle to finish up some details, and Professor McGonagall is also Harry Potter's Head of House for Gryffindor. She will represent him from the Hogwarts side."

They all nodded.

"Harry Potter, of course, seated on that rock. He is the reason we are all gathered here tonight."

He waved at them a bit impudently, and one of the dragons puffed a bit of smoke at him. It was the black dragon that had been talking to him.

"Dan and Emma Granger, parents to Hermione – who wanted to be here to find out what's going on, but had to stay in the castle." There was a few snorts of amusement from a few people that knew the girl. Robbie thought that if he looked up at Gryffindor Tower, he would probably see a bushy head of hair staring impatiently out the window. The aforementioned Grangers waved and nodded at the others.

The silver dragon puffed a bit of smoke at Dan, which he coughed at. He hadn't expected that and wasn't familiar with a dragon's expression of amusement, much less used to it.

"Healers: from Hogwarts, Poppy Pomfrey, who everyone but maybe a few don't already know. She's been the healing face of Hogwarts for a very long time."

Everyone nodded and there were a few murmurs. Robbie took the opportunity to quickly update Félicité.

"From St. Mungo's, Healers Davison and Hurt. They're asking for only the barest of introduction as they observe the procedure. They may or may not have questions later."

One had sandy blonde hair and the other was grizzled and looked a bit like Garrick Ollivander. They nodded to everyone without saying anything, making them wonder who they were. It was a common question that had no answer.

"From the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, myself, Master Auror Monica Wakefield and my partner, Master Auror Steve Wilson, on special assignment. We're also here to observe by request of the Ministry's Dragonborne Treaties and Treatises sub-department. Both of us have some Healer training, although not to the level as most here. We can follow along."

Everyone nodded, although that didn't really help answer many of the questions everyone was thinking. Robbie saw the woman motion toward him.

"Robert Russell, M.D., D.D.S, F.A.C.S., which is a whole lot of letters for something that would take too long to explain for the time we have available. He is a 'dually,' what we in DMLE call someone with full qualifications as a Healer and a muggle Doctor. He has a continuing role to play, although due to recent events, we haven't exactly had a chance to get him completely up to speed. Doctor Russell, I apologize."

She handed him a parchment.

"Read over this quickly while I finish the intros and you'll see why you've been asked here."

He did, keeping half an ear out for the other introductions. It didn't take long. It was a note from Danny relating some things he'd missed about the Potter boy and the exam that he'd done that needed seeing to as part of this meeting. His heart dropped into his shoes at what his friend was referring to. He was going to have to report what he'd found as part of an investigation slash dragon exam. Robbie missed the introduction of his wife as he was reading, but he did see her wave a bit uncertainly at the others out of the corner of his eye. He caught Dan's eye after he read the parchment and nodded to him after flipping his eyes toward Harry Potter. Dan returned the gesture with an unhappy look shadowing his eyes. Robbie turned his attention back to the speaker, who was continuing.

"To add to this mob, I have to introduce Master Aurors Webb and Morgan. Again, barest of introductions, aside from observing for liaising with certain muggle law enforcement agencies which will remain unspoken of. They are aware of the gravity of this situation."

Both men nodded, but said nothing. Their badges shone on their robes.

"Now, before I introduce our dragon friends – and I really hope they will pardon me when I say I never thought I would ever say that – I have to mention that this is a Healer examination as requested by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and all of you with Healer or medical oaths are reminded and required to adhere to privacy requirements. We in law enforcement have similar oaths. The dragons here are bound by the Treaty of Shelleche Notch, which is interesting reading in its own right."

Everyone nodded in agreement. There was a lot of interest and speculation added in the movements.

"As for our dragon friends," she waved a hand toward the smaller of the Horntails, who raised her head. "This is Tessaies. She is to be addressed as 'Mother Eminence' in the formal mode, and by name if given permission to do so. By title, she is in charge of all dragons assigned here. There are four dragons assigned here."

There was a bit of confusion at that.

"Yes, there are more than four dragons at Hogwarts at the moment, but the greater amount is here in response to the recent attack. I won't go into that, since it's still an active investigation. I'm sure the other dragons would be able to talk to you if they're not busy with whatever they're doing."

The confusion settled a bit after that, but not completely. The woman waved at the red dragon and paused for a moment, obviously shuffling names in her head.

"This is Quiangya. She is 'second-in-battle,' as the dragons call it, or as the Mother Eminence's deputy."

The red dragon nodded, but didn't say anything. The stern glance that she swept over the group had many wanting to tuck in their shirts under their robes and comb their hair.

Monica Wakefield snorted to herself for a moment, but went on. This time, she directed attention to the silver dragon Dan had examined.

"This is Annika. She, like Rhiain next to her," the obviously somewhat sleepy green dragon waved with a grimace for the obviously sore belly, "don't have assigned duties as you'd think of it, but are generalists as you or I might think of them."

Robbie wanted to ask what that meant, but the look in the woman's eye shut that thought down. The silver dragon bounced up.

"Hi!"

Félicité buried her face in her husband's shoulder and giggled.

"Yes, well. She is very outgoing and would be happy to answer any questions you might have."

There were various snorts from the other dragons.

"Finally, this is Domir. He is, to the Healers among us, your counterpart. He is to conduct an examination of young Mister Potter, with your assistance, using the magic inherent to his nature. He may make prescriptions at this point, and his notes and the like will appear in Mister Potter's medical records. Tessaies is here as his guardian under the Treaty."

Robbie's eyebrows shot up, along with many others. This was unexpected.

"You may be required to testify in court as your findings tonight, so be aware of that."

Robbie traded glances with his wife, realizing that with her occupation her invitation made sense now. She nodded at him, realizing the same thing. There was a definite light in her eyes that he saw when either she was chasing after something or he was in trouble.

"Two other things. One, Domir has his nurse with us," she pointed out a sixth dragon that no one had noticed until now, which surprised most of them, and who had a familiar file with her that had last been seen in Madam Pomfrey's office. "And two, there is a short platoon of Goblins roaming around to provide security. For those of us that either don't know or may have forgotten about Goblins, that means don't go around the grounds tonight unattended."

"Well, yeah," Robbie muttered. He could see his wife looking up at him in confusion. "I'll explain later, sweetheart, but for now think Professor Flitwick with sharp blades and a very bad mood."

Monica looked at the young man they were all here to see.

"Mister Potter, are you prepared?"

He gulped, but nodded.

"Healer Domir, the floor is yours."

The large dragon nodded and stepped toward Harry Potter.

"Mister Potter, my name is Domir. I have questions to ask and some of these may seem invasive, but I have your best interests in mind in accordance with my Oath. Please answer them as fully as you can."

Harry Potter nodded in agreement as the deep voice rolled over everyone there and the questions started to come.

|:-:|

The late night at the Ministry didn't help some of the moods there.

"We need somewhere to stash some of these people before our magnanimous Minister moves most meaningfully to let them out and ruin our work."

"Yeah, too bad he's not so eleemosynary to those who really need it."

Synchronous eye-rolls were noted all around at the sarcasm expressed.

"Hmmm…"

The noise from one side of the room caught the attention of everyone else. It had come from one of the Senior Aurors.

"Ray? You got something?"

Ray looked up, his brow creased in speculation.

"I just thought about something – well, remembered, more like. Willie and Annie are quartered in the dungeons at Hogwarts, right?"

"Well, yeah. One's in Slytherin and one's in Hufflepuff. Why?" There wasn't any of the usual jokes at the moment about where the Senior Auror's kids had been Sorted since he'd been a proud Gryffindor. Ray sounded like he had something trigger an interesting thought.

"They told me about a strange new addition to the dungeon spaces in the castle. They found it while they were, ah, exploring."

"New addition? They roam around the castle like that? I'd be wary about that. No telling what's down there."

"Well, you know Annie. She's hell-bent for leather sometimes, and Willie goes along to try to moderate her."

"Not like it works, Ray." Everyone knew that try to was a pale imitation of what would work with Annie.

"Don't I know it. Remind me sometime to tell you about the pepper lotion they brewed up and where they applied it."

"Uh, okay," it didn't sound the least bit good to the other Auror considering the tales Ray told about his kids' antics, "but what was you hmmming about just now?"

"Well, I was wondering if the Headmaster would let us use that new space for our guests? We need somewhere, right?"

"We do, but who gets to ask Madam Bones?"

The answer was quick in the realization of everyone.

"Your idea. You get to ask."

"Wait, what?"

"Have fun!"

|:-:|

Madam Bones was not currently happy about the late night, either. She was looking over the interview that Mad-Eye had conducted and was trying not to curse or blow something up. Jonah Whitelock was going to rue the day he was born when she got finished with him, and possibly several other Whitelocks as well. Madam Bones had a few things to say to him, based on the interview she was reading. They wouldn't be light and pleasant, either.

There was already a page of notes scribbled on her foolscap-sized pad, and she was about to start another page. The name Tim MacDonald was already down in a couple of places, and each place had a couple of underscores to go along with them. The other names listed in the interview had their own places in her notes, along with their own underscores. There were several things that she had written down to do in regards to, and she intended to do them.

The name Dolores Umbridge was a good chunk of the reason Madam Bones was not amused in the slightest.

She stared at the well-used coffeepot that she had in her office, knowing that if she had a cup now she wouldn't sleep tonight. No one who visited her office was brave enough to mention that her 'cups' were actually giant mugs capable of holding four regular cups. Or for that matter was practically the same size as, if not a little bigger than, the unbreakable glass carafe that held the freshly-dripped ambrosia of wakefulness.

Everyone knew to stay on her good side meant finding something coffee-related. The espresso bean dark chocolate bars were the current winners, especially if she dropped a bar in her giant mug to melt. No one wanted to think about what happened when she ran out of those. No one especially wanted to think about what would happen if she ran out of coffee.

The DMLE Head continued to go through the interview, reading it several times to pick out any details that she might have missed on previous read-throughs. The preferential treatments mentioned bore a closer look, and that note went on the pad.

There was a passing thought about the people that had been collected from the operation – if she could call it that. That was not one of the better ideas anyone had ever had, everyone in the Auror Department had thought. Her cells were filling up faster than she really wanted them to, and she didn't have enough manpower to really monitor those cells like she wanted.

"If only I had a better place to put them," she mused.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come!" The shout was very irritable-sounding to everyone out in the bullpen who could hear it, and she watched an Auror poke his head into the office. He looked a bit nervous, even though he was trying to hide it. There was a bit of amusement on her part that she very carefully hid away as she looked at him.

"What?"

"Boss, I have an idea about where to put those guests of ours."

She gave him a look and waved him in.

"Oh? Sit down. What a coincidence, as I was just thinking about them. Do tell."

The Auror felt all the considerable attention his boss could focus on him, and tried not to gulp.

"Well, there's a place at Hogwarts..."

Author's Notes:

Things are moving forward, if a bit slowly! Hopefully, Rhiain will get some relief, Neville will get his assignment done, and Domir will have learned a few things.

As for the draconic exam of Harry, with all in attendance, there's a reason and I hope to get to it in the next chapter. HIPAA and corresponding British laws are conveniently ignored, for the purpose of this story. There are concepts of medical privacy mentioned, but I wanted to more easily get the information to the other characters instead of having them sit down and file reams of paperwork. Can you see a dragon with a human clipboard, trying to write in those tiny lines?

I also hope Madam Bones doesn't run out of coffee, if only to protect her Aurors.