Chapter Nine

A Year Passes

Saturday September 2, 1995

Connie and Anna were back at their Saturday morning cold case speculation routine. It had been 10 weeks since any of the Death Eaters had been seen.

After a few minutes of rehashing the few known facts, Anna came back and suggested, "What if it was one or more of their own?"

"Go on." Connie loved it when one or the other of them thought of a new angle.

"Pick any two of the I was Imperioused club. Suppose they did a bit of experimenting with the Mark and figured out how it worked. Maybe they didn't like what happened at the World Cup, or some other motive. They could have hatched a plan to appear to bring Snake Face back to life."

"Go on." Connie loved the idea. It was deliciously devious; something Narcissa Malfoy would devise.

"The original plan was a robbery. They called their Mask Club buddies, put on a reasonable impersonation of Snake Face, fired off a few Cruciatus curses for show and told them, Bring me half of your vault cash for not finding me sooner, or whatever sounded convincing." Connie could easily envision it happening.

She continued, "Now, here's where it gets good. They know the number; say 45 Death Eaters. They also know Gringotts. If 45 people all popped in at once, it would take the better part of an hour to get them to a teller and through the cart line." Anna was a great storyteller. Connie felt as if she were in line with them.

Anna continued. "OK. In the mean while, everyone else was at Hogwarts. So next to no one saw the people go in and out of the bank carrying big sacks of gold. Meanwhile, the two perpetrators could have done a bit of transfiguration to make it look like snakeface and some Death Eaters are by the bonfire. They probably picked some out of the way, spooky place like a graveyard for dramatic effect. Twenty minutes later, the other Death Eaters started coming back in groups of one or two. They would have been carrying their bags, so they're weren't prepared to defend themselves.

"The perpetrators could have AKed them, transfigured them into rocks or trees and hidden the bags behind a grave marker then waited for the next bunch to arrive."

Connie replied, "Means, motive and opportunity – check, check and check. No Death Certificates. Whoever watches the sensor or whatever Gringotts uses to let them know that someone died was probably bribed in advance to keep quiet. Our own sensors which should have picked up 45 AKs haven't been in use since Hopkirk's old department was shut down after the World Cup.

"Gringotts management probably discussed the problem on their end, fed the sensor attendant to the dragons and decided to not say a word about it. Anna, it would be all-but-impossible to prove, but it all fits. Which family?"

Anna suggested, "One of the have-nots, or someone who'd recently fallen on hard times, or someone with a personal grudge. I'd guess either the Malfoys, or the Parkinsons. The Black Will didn't go the way that the Malfoys expected. The Parkinsons' daughter was killed when one of the tents burned up last summer. They had a serious motive."

Connie considered Anna's theory. The two weakest points were the robbery theory to begin with, along with the absence of Death Certificates. It was just as likely that John Dawlish was riding in a Tuk-Tuk right now on the way to a sleazy bar in Pat Pong. Felsenthal may have simply practiced 50 ways to leave his lover. A sample of two extrapolated to 45 people was weak at best.

She asked, "Has Gringotts issued any other Death Certificates?"

Anna replied, "I'll check. I'll see you Monday."

… - …

Monday September 4

Connie and Anna met again. Anna reported, "There have been eight magical deaths recorded since the disappearances in late June - Albus Dumbledore on June 28 and the seven Death Eaters who died at Azkaban on August 12."

Connie asked, "How did you find out?"

"I made an appointment with the Senior Account Manager Barchoke. He told me that they keep track of all of the vault holders."

"Did you ask about the missing Death Eaters?"

Anna smiled and replied, "Naturally. I received an eloquently spoken non-answer. He had mentioned that while their system had been undergoing maintenance during June and July, that the missing Death Eaters had been in and recorded dozens of transactions in those two months."

The older investigator pondered her brilliant partner's words for a moment and observed, "So, in plain words, they know where they are, and are disinclined to share their information. We have no leverage over them. So in the near term, we've hit another dead end. What about Dumbledore?"

"He'd worn out his welcome at the castle, was asked to leave and somehow died on June 28. They recorded his death and didn't speculate as to the circumstances."

Connie asked, "If we took your brilliant inside robbery theory off the table for a moment, who would benefit from the Death Eater's deaths?"

"Ultimately, their beneficiaries, the ministry, the estate disposition group and the goblins."

"So you could have a variation of your robbery theory in the form of a small group of the heirs, or an even farther than usual off-the-books operation by the Unspeakables. Who ran the estate disposition group?"

"Conrad Parker. He and his wife have rarely been seen in public since the World Cup a year ago."

"OK. So take the Malfoys for example. Who specifically benefits from their deaths?"

Anna thought for a while and replied, "Aside from the ministry, Parkinson, the goblins, society in general, their son Draco, and Harry Potter."

"How?"

"The ministry would get a cut of the estate in the form of estate tax. Parkinson gets a larger cut from dispositioning the estate. The goblins get a cut of the estate for performing the appraisal. All of society is better off without Lucius hatching plots. Draco inherits. Lord Black wouldn't have to pay Narcissa's family member allowance. Society aside, no one else benefits without a Death Certificate."

Connie asked, "What if they're not dead?"

"Either they're out performing some nefarious plot, or instead of being killed, they could have been obliviated and sent somewhere."

"How would that work?"

Anna replied, "Start with the robbery theory. The group who hatched the plot stuns them when they get back from Gringotts. Once they have everyone, they reawaken them, do a total obliviation on them and send them off to Costa Rica with a hundred thousand pounds sterling in their pocket. Sooner than later, they get robbed, or murdered and are probably too far away for the Gringotts sensor to pick up. There's no branch office there, so without wands, they'd be stuck."

"Who could pull that off?"

"A handful of people working for Rufus, or the Unspeakables."

"John Dawlish?"

"Yes."

Connie asked, "How would you prove it?"

The younger Investigator replied, "To who and to what level? Rufus and Croaker could have dreamed it up, brought in a few of the lads and pulled it off. They could have figured out how to activate the Dark Mark, called the Mask Club to the spooky place, imperioused the Death Eaters to go to Gringotts and make a withdrawal, done the major mind whammy, handed them enough money to get familiar with every pole dancer in town and sent them to 20 different countries. They had the means, a sufficient motive and easily could have used the third task as a diversion.

"My point is, a bunch of bad characters have left Britain. Karen Dawlish aside, no one seems too fussed about it and she easily could have been paid to file a report just to keep up appearances. In the mean-time, a bunch of wrongs have been righted in the Wizengamot. I feel like we're benefiting as much as anyone. No one's told us to look for them. No one's told us not to. My vote is that we drop it unless something turns up."

Connie considered her words and replied, "I completely agree. Let me take you to your favorite coffee shop. My treat."

… - ...

Tuesday September 5 (first day of class)

Harry was taking World History, Physics, Charms, Runes, Enchanting and Transfiguration. Unlike at Hogwarts, there were students older than him in some of the classes such as Physics and some younger students in Runes. For better or worse, Hogwarts seemed intent on keeping years of students intact and effectively isolated them from students older or younger than them.

Enchanting was easily his favorite class, though he would do well in all of them.

… - ...

Hermione loved Harry with every fiber of her being. That said, she wished that she had gone to Salem as a first year. By the end of the day, she'd concluded that as a group, the teachers were better than all but two or three of Hogwarts professors. It was immediately evident that they'd had formal instruction in the actual art of teaching as well as their specific subject.

Beyond that, the culture of the school was different than that of Hogwarts.. She didn't have anyone in her classes who was cousins with the person sitting next to them. She doubted that many of the students would know what she was referring to if she'd mentioned mudblood to any of them. She was certain that the school wasn't perfect and doubtless had a few dark secrets of its own, but day one went as well as she could have hoped for.

It hadn't occurred to her that she'd changed. Gone was the 11 year-old, whose hand rocketed into the air as the slightest hint of the teacher asking a question. Now she was quite comfortable sitting in the second row. By agreement, the only class that she and Harry took together was World History. Her classes were on the Healing track, his on Enchanting.

… - …

Monday October 12 (six weeks into the semester)

After class, Harry decided to ask for advice on his enchantment project.

"Professor Taylor?"

"It's Mandy, Harry. How can I help you?"

"I want to make a lake."

She'd never heard that comment before, but doubted that the highly talented teen was joking, she replied, "Go on."

"I want to make a lake, but on a test basis, I want to make a 22 acre pond."

The teen wasn't exactly gushing out extra information. She smiled and asked, "Where?"

"I own some property in Chesterfield – 55 acres. I was planning on making it 15 feet deep; that part's easy enough. To seal it, I'll just buy some really big rolls of sheet vinyl and mend the pieces together. I'll put down a few layers to get a good seal and cover it with sand to weight it down."

"OK. Then you'll have a really big hole on your property."

"Right. The part I'm still thinking through is filling it. I want to summon some ocean water and use it to fill the hole. Then I thought I'd transfigure the ocean water to be fresh water. Since they're so similar, the change would be permanent."

She asked, "Where are you having the problem?"

He said, "I live just over 100 miles from the ocean. When I disillusion myself and fly out to the ocean on my broomstick and summon a bunch of water, I lose a lot of it by the time that I've flown home."

She assumed that he was trying to improve his yield but had a thousand other questions. This was far more interesting than the typical teenage wizard trying to make an invisibility ring to spy on teenage girls. She asked, "If you don't mind my asking, why do you want a lake? Do you like to fish?"

"Dunno. I've never tried it. My friend Robert does."

"Harry, why do you want to make a lake out of seawater?"

"It's sort of a proof of concept exercise. Basically to make drinking water for people who live in the desert.

She took a breath to collect her thoughts, then asked, "You're serious?"

"Yes."

"You're going to need a bigger wand. Let me do some checking. I'll get back with you on this in the next two weeks. OK?"

"Thanks."

… - …

Saturday March 23, 1996 (five months have passed)

Harry and Hermione were outside enjoying the nice spring day. Dobby came by with one of the other elves and said, "Harry Potter Sir, this be Ed."

Harry held out his hand and said, "Hello Ed, I'm Harry. How can I help?"

Dobby said, "Ed is best at talking with unicorns. Tell him."

Ed said, "These two unicorns have lived here for years. This one is Veronica, this one is Betty." He said something in unicorn and Veronica came up with Betty following behind.

Hermione asked, "Were there other unicorns when the person in the house brought them here?"

Ed asked and they replied. He disappeared for a moment and returned. He said, "The wizard who used to live here died ten summers ago. The land was divided between the daughters. They weren't able to cast with their magic and live far away. One sold you your property. The other put a sign up yesterday. I went to look." He took a small pad notepad out of his pocket, wrote something on it and handed it to Harry. He said, "The sign read For Sale with that telephone number." Harry handed the paper to Hermione. The handwriting was exquisite.

Little D said, "Dobby thinks Harry Potter should be buying the land next to this land."

Harry agreed and replied, "OK. I'll go talk with Sharptooth at Gringotts." By the end of the day, he owned another 110 acres.

… - …

Saturday May 11

Two weeks before the OWL exams, Hermione was in a full blown panic. Finally Dan put her in the Range Rover and they drove around for a while. He asked, "What classes are you taking next fall?"

"Healing, Biology II, Chemistry II, Herbology, Potions and Charms."

"What prerequisites are there for the classes?"

"I need to pass the OWL exam in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration and Charms."

Dan replied, "Did you say pass the exam, or score the highest in your class?"

"Pass but..."

"In the event that the sun doesn't rise next week and you don't do well on your test, can you retake your exams?"

"Yes but..."

Slightly frustrated at his studious daughter, Dan snapped,"But what?" He took a calming breath and added, "Hermione, they're in the business of selling education to attentive students, which you are. You have the money to buy a seat in their classroom; they're in the business of putting butts in seats. Don't make more of it than it's worth. You're not a quitter. There's no one firing death ray spells at you here. If you come in first or fifth, or ninth, it won't matter; believe me."

"Thanks Dad. You're the best."

… - …

Friday May 30

Harry paid to take OWL examinations in Transfiguration, Enchanting, Charms, Defensive Magic, Herbology, Runes, Potions and Astronomy. There was no OWL examination offered in Magical Creatures at Salem, so he decided to take it in Britain.

Hermione paid to take the exams in Transfiguration, Charms, Defensive Magic, Herbology, Runes, Artihmancy, Potions, Astronomy and History. There was no OWL offered in Nonmagical Studies. They concluded that it was a British anomaly.

The only glaring difference between Salem and what they would find in Britain was in grading. At Salem, they received their grades the day after that examination rather than all at once. Harry received Os in everything except Potions and Astronomy, where he received Es. Hermione received Os in everything except history, which she passed due to extra reading. To that end, Dan was right; there was no ticker tape parade, Binn's classes were an aberration compared to the rest of the world. They both decided to continue with World History as one of their summer courses.

… - …

As Salem let out a week earlier than Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione decided to retake their OWLs at Hogwarts. Each signed up for a small handful – Harry selected, COMC, Charms and Transfiguration – Hermione, chose Charms, Transfiguration, Potions and Herbology. Both politely declined to take the DADA exam. When she saw them, Hermione invited, Dean, Luna, Susan and Hannah to come for the second summer session at Salem.

As they were staying at the Tonks residence for the week, Harry had plenty of time to talk with Ted.

He asked, "How are things at the Wizengamot?"

Ted replied, "Far better now that Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour switched jobs. Rufus finally admitted that he'd made a mistake taking the job and they switched at the last meeting. His last blunder was calling 100 of the 270 people working at the ministry redundant without any notice, and letting them go on a Friday afternoon. Between that and it coming out that 30 of the Death Eaters had been paid for 60 days after they'd stopped coming to work, he was in line for a No Confidence vote, so they switched jobs.

"Amelia hired a handful of the people back and somehow Britain got by without Gobstone officials. It turned out that there hadn't been a tournament held in the last twelve years."

Harry asked, "Did the other seats get filled?"

"No. There had been no call from Rufus to declare them dead and Amelia hasn't gotten that far down into her In-Basket yet. After Dumbledore was declared dead, Aberforth named Rosmerta as Steward of the Dumbledore seat. Last, but not least, Nym was promoted at work; she's now a full Auror. How's the new piece of property?"

"The elves have been planting thousands of trees. Actually, they're asking them to move from other places. They moved the fir trees that were on the new piece around the hole that I dug. I still haven't been able to move any sizable amount of water."

"You'll get there." He'd seen the hole the last time that they visited. Any other large purchases on the horizon?" He'd had their checking accounts topped off again at $250,000 earlier in the month.

"Hermione wants to buy a second hand car. It would be easier to go to the restaurants in Chesterfield and Amherst with the other teens. Dan's pretty protective about his Range Rover. We borrow Emma's minivan sometimes."

Ted asked, "How about you?"

"I'd be more interested in enchanting various parts of a car than driving one. Maybe I'll feel different in a few months. It's not like we're going to drive to school everyday."

"True."

"I might buy a few more broomsticks so guests could go for a fly."

"That shouldn't be a problem."

… - …

After dinner they went for a walk around the property. Harry asked, "How are you feeling?"

Hermione replied, "Still a bit numb, but the nights have been fine. The unicorns and the elves are quite soothing to be around; especially when the elves are singing their songs. How about you?"

"Your dad gave me a book about a British military organization that he called Sport and Social. They went on what were secret missions; not the sort that were written about in the Times. They had to take lives. Sometimes, they rescued people, sometimes they went to blow something up, or kill a small group of bad guys.

"They mostly got through it afterwards by talking with their buddies, or someone in the same line of work. Ones who couldn't cope with it turned to drinking, drugs, or hurting themselves. We're lucky; we have each other."

"We are lucky, goof; we're retired. Now we can be students and live our life properly, Come here, give me a hug, a happy hug."

He complied and felt the warmth in his right hand as they comforted each other. They got through the day together. They would do it again tomorrow.

She was comforted by the fact that they'd all been wearing masks and she didn't have to remember the faces every night. She asked, "What other advice did it offer?"

"Get plenty of physical exercise and to stay busy."

… - ...

Friday June 14

Dean, Susan, Hannah and Luna each agreed to go to Salem and attend the second session of summer school. Dean immediately said, "I'd like to sign up for magical painting."

Susan asked, "Hermione, what are you signing up for?"

She replied, "Chemistry II and Calculus." That received a polite nod from the four Hogwarts students.

Hannah asked, "How about you, Harry?"

He replied, "I'm taking Wandcrafting. It's a double class." That received affirmations from the three girls.

He said, "Meet at Gringotts at noon on Tuesday. Hermione and I will portkey you there. Bring your passports. There's plenty of room at the house. Hermione's parents live there. I'll get you registered for your classes. Dress is casual; no one wears robes. The weather will be a bit warmer than here. We'll have a great time. Speaking of, there's five hours of time difference between here and Salem. Here's a local telephone number if anyone needs to call you there, or has a question."

Changing the subject slightly, Susan asked, "Why did you sit for so few OWL examinations?"

Hermione replied, "We took all of ours last week at Salem. The ones for this week were to satisfy any wand rights issues, or Wizengamot requirements."

As they were getting ready to depart, Dean asked, "Have you been keeping up with things in Britain?"

Harry admitted, "No, not a bit. What's up?"

Dean replied, "A bunch of people disappeared. Professor Dumbledore was let go last summer and hasn't been seen since. A bunch of Slytherins didn't come here for school this year. On the flip-side, there weren't any fights. The only sad thing this year was Ron; he flunked out and didn't come back after Christmas."

Harry replied, "I'd have thought that he would have talked Lavender to help him with his homework."

"She did. The potions professor caught him putting his name on her homework. His vanishing spell failed and his name was written on top of hers. At least he could have bothered to rewrite it."

Harry shook his head in disappointment; wondering how anyone could put so little effort into their own education.

Dean asked, "Are you sure that this is covered? Ma could pay you back."

Harry replied, "We're good. Everything's covered. Bring whatever art supplies you think you might need and we'll get the rest."

"Thanks, Harry."

"My pleasure."

… - …

A/Ns

In balance, I'm not trying to bash Hogwarts as an institution. Objectively Dumbledore was too busy to be an excellent Headmaster, which is what the students deserved and McGonagall was too busy backfilling for Dumbledore to be an effective Head of House.

Hogwarts was not a great choice for Hermione; if not there to help Harry out in his adventures, she should have transferred after first year.

Thanks for reading.

*** Apprentice Tom and I wrote another tale together that he started posting – The Great Lie. Please give it a look. It's listed in my favorites.

Cheers