There is a scene of the chapter might be a bit confusing. Just remember that Alexandre LaBell is Harry's French alias.
Chapter 19 The Name's Potter, Harry Potter
As Harry landed on the ground outside of his apartment, still alive with the help of magic, the cellphone in his pocket started ringing. He cursed to himself, in both English and French, and pulled out the magically manipulated piece of muggle technology.
He looked around to see a few muggle staring at him, their eyes wide. He had just jumped out of a second floor window and landed on his feet like it was nothing. Probably not his smartest of ideas.
"Lift wasn't working," Harry stated, jabbing his thumb backwards at the building.
They continued to stare at him as he shrugged his shoulders and opened up the cellphone.
"Rick," Harry greeted, as he started making his way quickly down the street.
"Someone blabbed," Rick stated, immediately. "Didn't tell them that you were working for the British Ministry or who you were but they told them your French alias, what you were doing, where you live and most importantly, the ward scheme on your flat. You need to get out of the flat, now."
"Little too late for that Rick," Harry stated.
"What happened?"
"Dragon Mafia hit squad. King's dead. Enforcers are on the scene."
"Damn, not King." There was a pause. "Where are you?"
"On foot. Trying to find the informant before the Enforcers find me. Everything is in that apartment and I wasn't able to grab any of it before I was forced to flee. So right now, I look guilty as fuck for many illegal things and I need to find myself a get out of jail free card."
"This has turned into a cluster fuck Potter. I got a dead Hit-Wizard in a foreign country. This is going to be a diplomatic nightmare. We need to do damage control."
"Give me until tomorrow morning. If I can resolve this, I'll keep the Ministry out of it."
Harry held his breath as Rick didn't answer right away.
"You have until midnight tonight," Rick finally stated before hanging up the phone.
Harry let out the breath he was holding . Not as much time as he would have liked, but enough to get things done. He had one more person who fit all three criteria and a large pureblood manor to break into. Hopefully his first mission as an Areani wouldn't end in total failure.
Jean hated days like this. He had two dead, five injured and one very confused young woman. The worst part was, the person who would shed light on the entire situation wasn't to be found. They had been so concerned with getting to the apartment before the hit squad could do anything, that they hadn't thought of leaving anyone outside in case they had a runner.
It had taken him ten minutes to gather the two Enforcer teams and get up to that apartment. He knew that was a lot of time, but the wards on the apartment had been strong, he had tested them himself. He had thought it would take more than that to get through the wards. He had been wrong. Only one of the five surviving hit squad members wasn't dealing with a serious injury. And he still had no idea who the dead woman was.
He had to call in the Chevaliers to start collecting evidence at LaBell's apartment, as it was a crime scene. Coming with the Chevaliers was Noelle, who informed him that Alexandre LaBell didn't exist. There was no records of him at Brussel's Academy of Magic, no birth certificate and nothing to prove that Alexandre Labell was a real person.
So then the question became, who was Alexandre LaBell really? The discovery in his apartment was of multiple spare wands, daggers and warding tools. Noelle, who led the investigation of the apartment, had also discovered a slew of folders and reports on almost every member, and associate, of the Dragon Mafia. Several of whom were Ministry employees, including the three he was already investigating due to the evidence sent to him by an anonymous person.
Jean stepped into his dark study. There was going to be a lot of paperwork involved from the day. Just another day of taking his work home with him. As he closed the door behind him he paused, his fingers twitching. His wand was in his hand in an instant, the jet of light shooting toward the spare chair he had in the corner.
Defensive energy sprang into existence, absorbing the spell with ease. The torches on the walls lit up and Jean found himself staring at Alexandre LaBell himself.
"How did you get in here?" Jean demanded, his wand trained on his suspect.
"The front door..." LaBel said, trailing off confused.
"If you touched my family, I'll kill you!"
Harry blinked. Huh. He must have been a bigger suspect and perceived threat than he realized. He had decided to come as Alexandre LaBell, and then reveal himself as Harry Potter because he could have Fleur or Gabrielle back up him being Harry Potter. If he showed up as Harry Potter and claimed to be Alexandre LaBell, it would be a bit harder to prove. Looks like he shouldn't have taken the easy route. For some reason, Dumbledore popped into his head.
"Look, it's obvious we got off on the wrong foot. I'm going to put my wand down," here Harry leaned forward and placed his wand on the ground at his feet, "and you can just summon one of your daughters in here to clear this all up."
Harry realized that was probably the wrong thing to say without context. He rolled sideways out of his chair, the stunner slamming into the space he just was and knocking the chair over. The follow up stunner he had to block with a bit of wandless defensive magic with his left hand, as he used his right to summon the wand he had placed on the floor as a hopeful act of good faith. He flicked his wand to bat the third stunner back at it's caster.
Jean was forced to block the spell, and prepared himself for the ensuing counter attack but it never came. Instead, LaBell summoned a patronus that ran through the wall of the study. Then LaBell just stared at him, arm to the side with his wand hanging between lightly gripped fingers. Jean's hand froze in it's rising movement, suddenly unsure.
Harry stared at Mr. Delacour, ready to raise his wand again if necessary. The man seemed confused at the turn of events but seemed to be steeling himself for a full on attack. There was only one way to settle this, and since the man wasn't going to do it himself, Harry had taken the matters into his own hand. One way or another, a Delacour girl was going to be needed to identify who he was.
"Papa?"
Jean froze, his eyes darting to the side, where he saw Gabrielle standing in the study doorway. Her face was awash in confusion as she took in the scene before her. Jean turned his eyes toward LaBell, accusing. Somehow, that patronus had summoned his daughter to the room.
"Go back to your room Gabrielle," Jean commanded, his wand still trained on Harry.
"Gabrielle, who am I?"
Harry smiled at Gabrielle. He saw Gabrielle looking at him, an unsure expression on her face. Harry recalled when he had first run into the girl while in Paris, and what he had told her.
"I know I told you to keep it a secret but you can tell him who I am Gabrielle."
"Papa, that's Harry Potter! Why are you pointing your wand at him?"
If he wasn't the head of the Department of Wizarding Law Enforcement, Jean Delacour would have dropped his wand in shock. Something didn't add up. LaBell had obviously had an interaction with his daughter prior to right now. He didn't know if it was right before this confrontation or another date. He wondered if that run in had led to some mind magic being performed on his daughter. Because if it did, than he would kill LaBell himself. There was no way he believed the Harry Potter bullshit.
"That's what I was trying to tell you, before you started slinging stunners around," Harry stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "You can always floo call Fleur to verify too if you want."
Harry raised his wand, which caused Mr. Delacour to raise his as well. Harry turned his wand on himself and tapped his head. His blond hair instantly turned to its usual black. With his left hand he reached up and removed the colored contact from first his right, and then his left eye.
Jean found himself staring into startling green eyes. His gaze flicked up to the forehead, where the absence of the lightning bolt scar kept his distrust of the man in front of him on high alert. LaBell, seeing where the other man's gaze was settled, shook his head before raising his arm and wiping his forehead vigorously on the sleeve of his robe.
"This would go quicker if I had water, or knew a make-up removing charm," Harry muttered as he pulled his sleeve back. He could see some of the muggle coverup had come off. "This would also be easier if you'd just trust your daughter."
"Papa, it is Harry. I recognize his magical signature," Gabrielle state, stepping further into the room.
"Where is your mother?" Jean asked, glancing briefly down at his youngest.
"In the gardens," Gabrielle stated.
"And I take it you let him in." Jean nodded his head at Harry.
"Of course," Gabrielle replied. "He saved my life and has been the most wonderful pen pal."
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? Kids love me."
Jean frowned. When did Gabrielle get a pen pal? He would have to speak with Apolline about that. "Let's say I believe you're Harry Potter. Why have you been masquerading as Alexandre LaBell? What's with everything I found in your apartment? And why are you here?"
"I can answer all those. I'm sure you heard, I graduated Hogwarts early. Some of the press was right in that I graduated to fight Voldemort. But I couldn't fight him one on one, or even try to go after his top Death Eaters. I'm powerful for my age but I'm years away from reaching my magical maturation, and therefor my full potential.
"Instead, I decided to go after him in other ways. It took a while to find but I learned there was an attempt of an alliance between Voldemort and the Dragon Mafia, with talks taking place between the French branch of the mafia and a French Death Eater. With some well placed bribes, I gathered information on every Dragon Mafia member in France, as well as everyone who had any associations with the Dragon Mafia. I questioned some members and found out the alliance was being negotiated through the use of a Death Eater in the French Ministry ranks. I figured my best way to find the spy was to infiltrate the Ministry to see what I could find. Hence the birth of Alexandre LaBell."
Jean held up a hand to stop the story telling. He was starting to get a headache. This was going to take the entire evening to sort out. If he even believed the person standing in front of him was really sixteen year old Harry Potter, which he was still doubting. There was no way a sixteen year old could do all this.
"Gabrielle, get your mother from the gardens, and please floo Fleur to come here as soon as she is able," Jean stated.
First thing Jean wanted to do was get his daughter out of the room. It was better to be safe, just in case LaBell really was a danger. He rather his daughter not be around to be put in harm's way. If Fleur could come around to verify what Gabrielle had told him, that LaBell really was Harry Potter and his transformation into the black hair and green eyes was not just magic, that would help solidify his belief in it as well.
Still keeping his eye on his "guest" Jean made his way toward his desk and sat down in his chair. He summoned a bottle of dwarven whiskey and a glass for himself, pouring himself two fingers. Tilting the glass back, he consumed the entire liquid contents before pouring himself another two fingers.
"Okay, continue with your story."
"Maintenance was the easy choice. The work was well within my capabilities and I found myself in almost every inch of the Ministry, under the guise of checking enchantments and the like, and no one suspected me because they don't think much of maintenance. However, while I found lazy employees and workers willing to take some galleons under the table to look the other way, nothing was pointing to Death Eaters. I admit to having broke into the records room, to find out who was a pureblood or half-blood, and who wasn't, to help limit my search."
"So that was you," Jean muttered. "We suspected everything was connected."
Harry nodded his head. "I'm also the one who has been sending you the folders on the Le Counseil de la Magie members who have connections to the Dragon Mafia. I actually have a fourth one on me if you want it. However, someone knew what I was doing and ratted me out to the Dragon Mafia. At the same time, the United Kingdom found out what I was doing. They sent a Hit-Wizard to escort me back to England. I don't think they wanted France knowing the Boy-Who-Lived was on their soil causing trouble, so they tried to bring me back discreetly. However, the Hit-Wizard had only found me for a few minutes before things went bad. That's when the Dragon Mafia hit squad came into play. After the fight, I saw you guys coming and ran. Now here I am."
There was a lot of questions that Jean had. It was obvious there were parts of the story that had been left out. However, there were a few important questions that needed to be answered first.
"Is the dead woman we found in your apartment the United Kingdom Hit-Wizard?"
"Yes."
"What happened to Alain de Grace?"
"There was an attack on a family in Britain by the Dragon Mafia organized by de Grace. After questioning him I left him at one of the United Kingdom Hit-Wizard outpost. I believe they held a trial and threw him into Azkaban."
"Why did you run earlier today?"
"Everything looked very damning in the apartment. I have broken many French laws, and besides some information that provided warrants against corrupted high ranking members of your government body, I didn't have anything to back up my claims of this potential alliance. I needed to find the Death Eater negotiating the alliance."
"And did you find them?"
"I did."
"Who is it?" Jean asked, now curious.
"The folders you found in my apartment, about the associates of the Dragon Mafia, did you take any actions against the people in them?" Harry questioned, curious. "It must be hard seeing people who work under you being corrupt."
Jean frowned at the avoidance of his question. "Besides the names you provided me via owl post, there was a few low level clerks in various departments who will be detained when they come in on their morning shifts."
"Huh. There were more names than that. Sounds like you might be missing a dozen more. Not surprising, given that one of them is high up in your very department. In fact, the one in your department is more than just a Dragon Mafia associate, they're the Death Eater I've been looking for."
"Missing some? In my department? Can't be. The person who found the folders brought them straight to me."
"Do you mind me asking who found them?"
"My undersecretary, Noelle."
Harry smiled. "That's the Death Eater."
"Noelle?" Jean frantically shook his head. "Impossible. She's worked under me for years."
Harry mentally sighed. He knew this was going to be difficult, but he didn't expect it to be this difficult. "This would be much easier to prove if I had my folders."
"Harry?"
Both Jean and Harry turned as Fleur stepped into the study, her face as confused as Gabrielle's earlier. Harry smiled widely. Brilliant. Fleur would be the final push he needed to prove who he was.
"Hello Fleur. It's been a while," Harry greeted.
"Are you speaking French? It's doesn't feel like there's a translation charm in effect."
"Not perfect, but yes, I am speaking French."
Fleur nodded her head, as she moved further into the room and toward her father.
"Gabrielle said you needed me? And why is Harry here?"
"He's why I needed you here. To verify who he was," Jean stated, his eyes never moving from the Boy-Who-Lived. "He was the main suspect in an investigation."
"Harry?" Fleur turned toward him.
Harry gave her a shrug, as if to say 'who me?'
"Your friend," Jean stressed the last word, "has been disguising himself as a French Ministry worker. He's broken into homes of four members of Le Counseil de la Magie, as well as the French Ministry's records room. He's kidnapped and then extradited, by himself, a French citizen. He's also involved in the death of two people."
Fleur looked at Harry with wide eyes. He held his hands out in front of him, defensively.
"When you put it like that, it sounds really bad," Harry protested.
"Then how would you put it Mr. Potter?" Jean asked.
"The devastatingly handsome Harry Potter bends a few laws to fight the forces of evil?"
It had taken several hours of explanations and answering questions for Jean Delacour to be relatively convinced of everything. Harry had to leave out a lot of details, such as him working for the United Kingdom Ministry of Magic, and him abducting a dozen or so low ranking Dragon Mafia members and given them to Rick to stow away in Azkaban for the time being.
Fleur had sat through the entire thing, mostly in silence. She allowed Harry to tell his story and her father to ask him hundreds of questions to make sure the most complete version of the story was given.
"What will you do now father?" Fleur asked after they sat in several moments of silence. It was now approaching three in the morning.
"I will bring in every single one of the name he has given me to verify, including Noelle. I'll have to have my Enforcers move as one, to make sure none of them are tipped off. While that is happening, I will need to speak with the Minister to get her okay to use Veritaserum. Find out, once and for all, how truthful all he says is."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you didn't trust me," Harry stated, dryly.
Jean didn't answer, instead shooting Harry a dark look. Harry saw Fleur looking at him as well.
"Right. Never mind then."
"Now, how did you become Gabrielle's penpal? Was it from the Tri-Wizard tournament?"
Harry shook his head as Fleur turned toward him with surprised, questioning eyes.
"It was while I was in Paris, at a cafe to keep an eye on a Drago Mafia property. Must have been during Beauxbatons spring recess. Your wife was in the restroom at the store next door to the cafe, and rather than wait for her, Gabrielle came over to me, recognizing my magical signature. I didn't want her blowing my cover because she kept calling me by my name, so to get her to leave, I agreed to be her pen pal."
A small smile made it's way onto both Jean's and Fleur's faces.
"That sounds like Gabrielle," Fleur murmured.
Jean stood from his seat and rubbed at his tired eyes. "Fleur, please show Mr. Potter to one of the guest rooms. He and I have a busy day tomorrow."
Jean resisted the urge to wipe his sweaty palms on his robe. He had gotten little sleep last night, and had come into work an hour earlier than he normally did. He had spoken with the overnight shift of Enforcers, the ones who were supposed to be leaving within the next few minutes, and told them he needed them. He had sent them to the various offices of Dragon Mafia informants. Potter had memorized most of the names from the folders he claimed were missing from the stash Noelle had handed in. There was a name or two Potter couldn't remember, but they could address that at a later date.
He had already met with the Minister, calling her in fifteen minutes earlier than she normally arrived. After a conversation had with her, and getting her written approval, he had moved to his Department's potion supply chamber and got a vial of Veritaserum. It would be necessary for the questioning that would probably take place throughout the day.
As for Noelle herself, well he was waiting for her to arrive. The plan was to get her into a place she couldn't run from and make the arrest then. He had two Enforcers on stand by, in case she put up a fight. He hoped it didn't come to that. However, if Potter was correct, and she was indeed a Death Eater, then he needed to be prepared.
Noelle came out of the lift with a handful of the day shift; a few Enforcers and Chevaliers. Noelle spotted him, her face showing the surprise that he was waiting in the department reception area. The other employees walked by, voicing their greetings to them as they went.
Noelle came to a stop a few feet in front of him. "Jean, I think I might have a lead on LaBell."
"No lead needed. We have him in custody."
"Really?" Noelle looked to be in disbelief, but Jean could also see the flicker of uncertainty in her expression as well. "How?"
"He got injured in the fight against the hit squad. Enforcers picked him up trying to get some healing salves. I was called in when they brought him in. Waiting on you to start the interrogation."
Jean turned and started the walk to the interrogation rooms. He had studied his undersecretary's face carefully when he mentioned the news of LaBell's capture. The uncertainty he had seen on her face, showing only for a brief second, was something he had never seen on her face before when it had come to apprehending criminals. Noelle didn't want LaBell captured in a state to answer questions.
Jean kept an eye on Noelle as she followed at his side. She was deep in thought, and had withdrawn her wand, tapping the piece of wood against her left palm. He wondered, idly, what Noelle would do if they had indeed captured LaBell. If there was information LaBell had she didn't want to get out, what actions would she take to protect herself?
"Are you sure you want to do this right now?" Noelle asked as they stopped outside one of the interrogation rooms.
"It is something that must be done," Jean responded.
He indicated for Noelle to open the door. She did and took a step to enter the room but froze in the door frame. Jean took a step back and drew his wand.
"Where is he?" she asked, turning. She saw Jean's wand on her. "Jean?"
"Noelle, step into the interrogation room," Jean stated, raising his wand higher.
Two Enforcers appeared into view, removing their disillusionment charms. They too had their wands raised. Noelle looked at them all, fear making its way into her eyes.
"Jean what is going on? Why are you pointing your wand at me?"
"We do have LaBell, but only because he came to me willingly and he had a lot of things to say."
"And you trusted him? How do you know what he said is the truth?"
"What would I gain from lying?"
LaBell strolled into view. Noelle's wand rose into the air and she began to cast a curse but stopped at the glowing light coming from the two Enforcer's wands, each one ready to cast a spell at a moments notice.
"You! Why would he trust you?" she demanded.
"Because," LaBell started, as he waved his wand over himself, changing his appearance, "I'm a trustworthy guy."
Blonde hair changed to black, blue eyes shifted to green and the lightning bolt scar came into existence on the forehead.
"Potter," Noelle breathed out.
"Looks like my reputation proceeds me," Harry stated, a grin making its way onto his face. "I've spent a lot of time looking for you, I just didn't know you were the one I was looking for."
Harry drummed his fingers against the arm of the chair. Monsieur Delacour was, at the very least, borderline drunk at this point. He had finished two glasses of scotch and was quickly working on his third. Harry hadn't been offered a glass and at this point, didn't think he was going to be offered one. He wanted to point out that he was at the legal drinking age in France, but decided against it.
The man had just found out his undersecretary, a woman who has been his friend and co-worker for the past thirteen years, was a Death Eater. Harry imagined that could be rather jarring. The French hadn't had the worry about their government being infiltrated by Death Eaters because during Voldemort's first go around, the conflict and those who fought in it had been mostly confined to the United Kingdom. Now the war was on the continent and it was something the other European governments were going to have to start looking into.
As Jean polished off his third glass, he looked up at Harry, his eyes bleary. "So what now Monsieur Potter?"
The biggest piece of news they had gotten out of the day was that Noelle had managed to set up a meeting with an inner circle Death Eater and the Don of the Dragon Mafia. It was going to be held at a warehouse in southern France in three days time. Apparently, despite Harry's best efforts, Voldemort thought the Dragon Mafia competent enough to help him in his conquering of Europe.
"I have to stop that meeting," Harry replied. "Terms of an alliance cannot be negotiated. It will give Voldemort too many connections in the various governments to exploit, and too many bodies to add to his army."
"By yourself?" Jean questioned.
Harry thought about it. He figured he could probably get the United Kingdom Law Enforcement involved. Since it was the beginning of June, the Knights had finished their training a few weeks ago, so he was sure a team or two of Hit-Wizards could be spared. However, there was a high chance doing such a thing would cause an international incident with France.
"If I must," Harry replied.
Jean looked at the bottle scotch he had been drinking out of, contemplating with himself if he should pour himself a fourth glass. He sighed heavily and placed the bottle down.
"This is my country Monsieur Potter and I have been tasked with keeping it safe. Come here tomorrow around noon. I'll meet with Enforcer Captains in the morning."
Harry nodded his head and stood up. It had been a long day, and was approaching the end of the normal working day. He owed it to Saddie to let her know that he wouldn't be continuing as maintenance. He also owed an explanation to Elise, especially after leaving her in his apartment after dealing with a Dragon Mafia hit squad.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Until then, I have some explanations to give."
He made sure to glamor himself as Alexandre LaBell before leaving the office. Last thing he needed was for word to get around that Harry Potter was in France. He didn't give Sadie the entire story but she was sad to see him go and wished him the best. He didn't expect much from that, seeing as how he had only been an employee for a few months. The real issue was going to come with Elise. He made his way to her department floor, only to realize that he didn't actually know what sub-department she worked in.
"Madeline," Harry started as he approached the receptionist. "Would you be able to direct me to Elise Astiel's office?"
Madeline gave him a look, before glancing down at something on her desk. "Werewolf Social Services, Office 6B"
"Thank you Madeline."
It only took a minute to find the office door. He stood outside of it for a moment, hesitating on whether or not he should be doing this. The United Kingdom Ministry didn't want anyone knowing he was in France, and now that he had blown his cover to the French Ministry, they also didn't want anyone to know he was in France. Still he owed it to Elise.
He knocked on the door.
"Come in," a male voice called.
Harry pushed open the door. He came into a room with only two desk and a bunch of bookcases filled with books and stacks of parchments. Elise sat at one desk and at the other was a man, probably in his mid-forties.
Elise froze at the sight of him, her face a mixture of emotions. "Alexandre."
"I've just come from Director Delacour's office. I told you I would explain everything."
She turned from him, her gaze shifting back to the paperwork on her desk.
"I don't want to hear it."
Harry waits for a moment, keeping his eyes on her. Her eyes don't shift from side to side, instead they remain stationary on a fixed point. She isn't going back to work. She's too distracted by his mere presence to do so, but she's so hurt and confused by what he had done to her, that she can't face him.
Harry turned toward the guy in the room. "Would it be possible to give us a moment?"
The man looked at the paperwork on his desk for a second before nodding his head. "Yeah, I can do that."
Elise's head shoots up. "Martin, you don't have to leave."
"It's obvious you two need to talk and frankly, it's none of my business."
Martin nodded shortly to Harry before making his way out of the office, shutting the door behind him. Harry took out his wand, which caused Elise to jump slightly. Harry resisted the urge to frown, and went about casting basic privacy and silencing wards around the office.
"Most of what you know about me and what I've told you is a lie," Harry started, deciding to get the main thing out of the way. "My name is not Alexandre LaBell and I'm not French."
Elise gaped at him, her mouth opening and closing for a few seconds. "Who are you?" she sputtered out.
Harry dispelled the glamor around himself. "I'm Harry Potter."
There was a moment of silence. "Aren't you like fourteen? I made out with a fourteen year old!?"
Harry crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm seventeen! Or at least, I will be in a few weeks. You know, out of all the things you'd be upset about, I didn't think that would be the biggest one."