Blaise exchanged worried looks with Pansy. Draco was a mess. She hadn't seen him in such a state since the cursed contact ban. Hermione and Rina were infected with dragon pox and Draco feared for their life.
Pansy and Blaise had tried to calm him down and had abducted him to a muggle pub, but had only succeeded in getting a distraught drunk Draco instead of just a distraught Draco.
"Look, Draco, the medicine for dragon pox has been around since 1598. Hermione is ill, but she is not going to die, and neither is Rina. Dragon pox is easier on children under six." Pansy said for the umpteenth time.
Draco looked as if he were about to cry in his whiskey. He fiddled with his wedding band.
"Fuck, it's so much harder on adults, and my grandfather died of the dragon pox. And that was in 1968, long after this so-called medicine was invented."
"Your grandfather was old," Pansy tried to calm him.
"At least there is one advantage," Blaise said.
Draco looked up from his glass. "I can't see any bloody advantage."
"Well, you haven't had dragon pox. So, you would have to stay away from her anyway for the eight weeks of dragon pox quarantine. That's 60 days. Just imagine Hermione getting the dragon pox next year, when the ban will be lifted. That would be so much worse."
Draco moaned.
"And with your scutum and all, you really can't afford to contract dragon pox. Who knows, if the medicine would even have an effect on you?"
Draco shook his head. "While I was in that bloody cell, they tried to feed me veritasserum and I spit it out every time."
"So, you're saying, that I couldn't help Hermione in any case." He sighed. "In a way that is oddly comforting. I still wish her parents could help her. Or that she would not refuse elves for fear of being responsible for the development of a cross species illness… "
"Luna is with her, and Longbottom and Weaselette bring food to her doorstep." Blaise told him.
Pansy gave a slight shake of her head that Draco did not notice. Blaise looked at her questioning.
"But Luna is only one person, and she'll work herself blind if she looks after Hermione and Rina for eight weeks. Rina is a small babe."
"That is not entirely true," Blaise disagreed. "She's a healthy baby, with just the right amount of baby fat."
Pansy looked at him. "How do you know that?" That she needed to remind him that he should be more careful what he said around her. Some Slytherin he was.
Blaise caught himself. "You know, how Tatki and I went to Hermione together to get his house elf contract sorted? I got to know Luna then and when we happen to meet each other occasionally we talk about this and that. She has a vast knowledge on magical creatures."
Draco only blinked twice at the expression 'happen to meet each other', but kept silent otherwise. Even inebriated he had himself better under control than Blaise.
"How would meeting Luna by chance give you knowledge about Rina?" Pansy shook her head. Blaise would not last a minute under auror scrutiny, at least not when it came to Luna.
"She is Rina's godmother and takes her for a walk quite often and that's how I know."
At least he did not mention that Luna usually went to a muggle playground and that they would meet Draco there. They were careful about it and as far as Pansy knew, no other auror had yet realised. Pansy appreciated that her friends had not let her into that secret. They tried not to force Pansy into siding with them, if it could be helped. And she was grateful, she just knew that if it came down to it, she would be suspected of knowing.
The department had become a better place for her, since Ron Weasley had left to play professional quidditch, but it was still an uphill struggle most of the time. When Ron had left Dawlish had partnered her with Harry Potter, and it had been meant to annoy her, Pansy was sure. And the first assignments had been a pain in the ass. But after they had almost failed in an arrest when they had loudly fought about Draco, they had silently agreed on never discussing that subject again. Now they worked together surprisingly well. Pansy had to admit that Potter had superb hunches, and she was reasonably good in unearthing evidence. They were a highly successful team.
Pansy sipped at her whiskey and sighed. She placed her finger on her glass and drew circles, but stopped when it made the glass swing with a low pitched tone.
"Spit it out, Pansy," Blaise nudged her.
"It's just Longbottom who brings food as of this afternoon," she finally said.
"What?" Draco was torn out of his scrutiny of the bottom of his whiskey glass. "Why?"
"Apparently, your wife had a fall out with Ginny Weasley, and since they both have a temper…. Allegedly, it was terrible, a feverish Hermione, green with dragon pox and the fiery red head opposite each other, firing hexes…. Until Luna stepped in."
"Luna was not hurt, was she?" Blaise asked.
"No, both sides would never hurt Luna. They reined themselves in, but the damage was done."
"But why? The Weaselette was neutral."
"Well, only on the surface. According to Longbottom, she advised Hermione to let Ron Weasley help her, now that she is so ill, and that that would help her snap out of her amortentia condition all the sooner. And Hermione absolutely draws the line there, even if it means that she'll have fewer people to help."
"When her temper gets the better of her, she's not subtle." Draco mused.
"The understatement of the century," Blaise chuckled.
Draco tore at his hair. "Why is she so stubborn. I certainly don't want her to accept the Weasel's help, but she could have gritted her teeth and tolerate Weaselette, at least until she's better. What about Longbottom?"
Pansy felt a flush creep into her cheeks. Hopefully, the others would not see that. "Neville is far more level-headed. He never comments on the amortentia mess. When they discuss it, he just stands up and leave." She held back from squirming at the last moment, when she realised that she had called him Neville, not Longbottom.
"And you, Pansy?" Blaise asked, seemingly oblivious, to her blunder.
Pansy shrugged. "Everyone knows where I stand in this. There is a reason I am not assigned to ensure the contact ban."
"You could have been more subtle about this." Blaise criticized her. "Then Draco could see Hermione all the times you are on duty."
"Blaise, that's nuts. Far too risky, one word of this in the wrong ear, and they probably would find some obscure paragraph in wizarding law that results in me being sent to Azkaban and Hermione's wand snapped and Pansy sacked in disgrace." Draco scolded him.
"It's just…." Blaise shook his head. "I don't know how you bear it. You haven't seen her for such a long time, and there is still so much time left."
"479 days to be precise. And it's spite that keeps me going," Draco said. "Spite and stubbornness. I don't want them to win. We will make it through this, Hermione with her wand, the house elves all with contracts, me free and not in Azkaban. Hermione will continue to needle the wizengamot and make reforms, and most importantly we'll live happily ever after…. And I hope all Voldemort sympathizers and all Saint Potter worshippers gnash their teeth about it as long as we live."
Blaise and Pansy laughed at that.
"Well, you both have enough spite, that's for sure. The aurors positively hate being assigned to Hermione. She always comes up with something to annoy them. Well, everyone but Nev… Longbottom, who is barely ever scheduled to watch her." Pansy confided. She could have slapped herself. Must be the whiskey.
"I had thought, love comes into it as well, Draco" Blaise teased.
Draco's fingers had found his wedding band again. "Love," he said. "that word hardly seems to suffice. Such a small word for such a life-changing feeling. Such a small word for the rhythm that destines my life."
"Well, that was incredibly sappy, Draco." Blaise remarked. "Do I have your permission to use that?"
Draco's eyes glittered for a moment. "If it helps."
He shrugged. "I still think you should rather take action by doing something for her though than try your hand at being sappy."
Pansy's interest was piqued. Maybe Blaise's interest in Luna was far more serious than she had thought, if he had sought Draco's advice.
"It's just that action takes me into uncharted territory, well, not action as in making a move, obviously," Blaise said.
"It might be worth a try." Draco's smile was genuine, but Pansy suspected that he had ulterior motives as well.
She thought she knew where he was trying to lead Blaise.
"I have an idea," she pronounced. "I'll take over some shifts of Nev… Longbottom, so that he has more time to help and you, Blaise, join the quarantine and help Luna."
Draco and Blaise both looked sharply at her. This time they definitely had noticed her slip. Pansy willed her face to stay calm and hoped that they would ascribe her flush to the alcohol.
"I could look after Rina and help Luna with that," Blaise finally said. "I mean it can't be that difficult to look after a babe of 10 months."
Pansy met Draco's eyes, that had widened a fraction. Well, if Blaise was so ignorant about childcare it served him right to be disabused. She had two younger sisters six and eight years her junior, she knew how difficult baby care could be.
Blaise shook his head. "Look at us. We're pathetic excuses for snakes. Pining after lions." He winked at Pansy, and Pansy knew that her friends would relentlessly tease her about her slip of tongue.
"Luna is a Ravenclaw." Pansy tried to deflect.
"But she was practically adopted by that DA idiots. The Ravenclaws were just too narrowminded to see her brilliance."
"Inquisitorial squad pining after DA it is then," Draco joked.
"Oh my god, that Umbridge bitch," Pansy remembered her well enough. She had left the Slytherins little choice in joining her ministry backed course, just like the Carrows. Name dropping the parents or older and younger sibilings. That had been an even better incentive than the lure to get back at the Gryffindors. "In hindsight all the squabble seems so ridiculous and unimportant."
Draco smiled at her. "I thought Longbottom is with Hannah Abott, Pansy." It was so like him to not let it pass.
"Well he certainly looks way better than as a boy," Blaise remarked. "I cannot fault your taste, Pansy."
Pansy glared at them.
"We all pine in different ways," Blaise waved at the service. "Draco has a timeline, I have some hope, and Pansy is probably the most pathetic of our bunch. I think that is a good excuse as any to get drunk, before I go and quarantine myself."
Notes:
Just a bit of fluff and Slytherin interaction in between...
Chapter 80: The Mirror
Summary:
Harry closes the Malfoy observation.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"I have to show you something," Harry told Ron over breakfast.
"What a coincidence. I have something for you as well."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Is this work-related, Harry? It is Saturday. It is bad enough, that you sent Baxter and Wally to Azkaban on a Saturday."
"Not at all." Harry answered. "No connection to work."
"It's another puzzle piece for Harry's big case." Ron said simultaneously.
Harry looked at Ron with surprise. He hoped Ron had not blundered. Ginny arched an eyebrow at them both.
"I know, I'm running Baxter ragged, but you've seen the list, Ginny. And the bloody dementors are a real problem." Harry tried to calm his wife.
"Harry, I am glad that you don't do everything yourself…." She scrutinized her husband, and Harry felt very exposed. Ginny knew him too well.
She narrowed her eyes. "You sent them together to test Wally's loyalties."
Harry shrugged. "I might have. It wouldn't hurt to have one more person I can trust when it comes to the final arrest."
"You know, I would help."
Harry's heart clenched. "I need you safe."
Ginny scowled. It was an old and recurring argument. It was a good thing, that Ginny had not seen the survey he had made, the survey where he had matched every necessary arrest with a person he could trust. He had just left out Teddy and Ginny. If Ginny knew who he had practically dragged out of retirement, she would be livid. But better a livid Ginny who had survived than a dead or injured Ginny.
Ron laughed. "Harry, that is so rich. You realise that you might have been in St Mungo's now, if Ginny had not broken up that new curse you foolishly tried on your own person."
Harry squirmed. "That did not endanger Ginny."
"That was not my point," Ron told him. Somehow Ginny and Ron were in an understanding about this. The siblings exchanged a look.
"It was a big step. We now know which curse they use on the muggleborn children."
Praeda. According to Harry's Latin – English dictionary it meant plunder, an apt name for a curse that plundered someone's magic. Of course he could not be entirely sure, that it was the curse put on Neill and possibly on little Emma, but the curse had the same turquoise hue, that Harry had seen in Narcissa's memories when Snape had used the spell on Malfoy, or rather on himself and Malfoy, directing the magic he plundered from himself to the utterly exhausted Malfoy.
He had almost fainted trying this out on himself. Ginny had rescued him with a finite incantatem. He and Ron had tried some more and had worked out, that the Praeda curse could indeed be directed to boost someone else's magic, but that it needed direction or the magic of the person plundered would just bleed out in an alarming speed. Harry still wondered, how Snape had managed to be so precise with the curse to endow Malfoy with his skill at occlumency.
"Let's hope Pansy finds out, where and how they direct the curse." It was a testimony to how upset Ron was about the whole business, that he actually called Harry's second Pansy instead of 'Parkinson'. Harry had sent his patronus to Pansy immediately, and by now she should be working at finding the connection. Harry had a bad conscience. He had promised James and Richard to visit Hogwarts today, to watch them play Quidditch. But he still had one visit to make to tie up loose ends. It was unlikely that he would make it to the game.
Ginny sighed. Harry knew that she would scold him about his protectiveness again, but apparently not now.
"I'll be off in about an hour." Ron suddenly spoke up.
Harry saw the same question he had in Ginny's eyes.
"I am invited to be a 'plus one' on a Muggle wedding."
"What?" That was not a pleasant surprise. Harry prayed that Ron would not be attached to another Lucretia. Ginny made a face.
"'Plus one' means I am to accompany a nice woman to a party and act as her 'maybe date'."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Our dating days might be over Ron, but Harry and I know what 'plus one' means."
Ron smiled smugly. "Believe it or not, the caterer for that wedding is Fortescue and Miller."
"What? Ron you can't do that!" Ginny looked like she was about to explode on her brother, all mutual understanding over Harry's protective streak forgotten. Harry agreed. He had just made a very awkward truce with Malfoy. Ron and him getting into a fight would not be helpful, not at all. He briefly considered to throw an Incarcerus on Ron.
"Malfoy won't be there." Ron tried to calm them. "His muggle partner is in charge of this event."
"Who invited you?" Harry scowled.
Ron was not to be deterred from his good mood. "The bride's maid who also happens to be the muggle detective who looked into strange and unexplained illnesses with muggle children when I asked her to."
Harry was flabbergasted. He exchanged another look with Ginny. In Ginny's eyes he could see the same scepticism he felt.
Ron excused himself and came back with notes in a plastic binder that looked like a thorough report.
"Dudley told you he recognised the muggle Prime minister's intimate friend, didn't he? So, I decided to do some real investigation instead of the sham one you put me on."
When Harry looked up, Ron's lips swung upward.
Harry nodded, his mind somewhat numb. He tried to process the fact that Ron had acted on his own. That he had produced something useful. Then he scolded himself. He should know better than to underestimate Ron.
Harry leafed through the report. It hit him then. "They call it Bethan's disease. It means we'll have to alert the muggle police as well." He closed his eyes and groaned.
Ginny laid her hand on his shoulder. "You can alert them after you've tied up your own ends. I told you again and again, that you don't need to do everything."
Harry covered her hand with his own and pressed it.
"Well, what did you want to show me?" Ron asked. "I hope, it's not some curse, Ginny or I need to rescue you from?"
Harry's eyes met Ginny's. She understood him and smiled.
"I'll leave you to it, and will go out and train for a while," she told them and then proceeded to call for Lily if she would join her on the broom.
Harry stood and took Ron to the observation room he had established at Grimmauld.
Ron frowned. "I thought, we had finished this? Did you continue your observation after you informed the Malfoys?"
Harry snorted. "Of course not."
Harry led him to the mirror that stood in the corner. "We invented this after you left the department. We use it at the close of an observation. It's inspired by the mirror of Erised."
He activated the mirror. "It is just a short recording of what the observed person wants. We do it last, because it usually means that the observed realise that they are under scrutiny."
Ron's eyes went wide. "Harry…. You cannot be serious."
"In this case, the observed did not notice." Harry rounded on him. "You have to understand this, Ron. Do me a favour and finally understand this."
A wary look entered Ron's eyes.
"I've talked with Hermione three weeks ago. Her and Malfoy, they must have stood in front of this mirror every bloody morning, every bloody morning. And it was only yesterday, that we finally got a recording."
Ron swallowed.
"Look, Ron, look closely. It's just a few minutes. You'll see what they see in the mirror."
For a short moment there was fog in the mirror and then Harry and Ron could see them. Malfoy was binding his tie, while Hermione slipped on her skirt adjusting her stockings on the way. They were talking but the mirror did not transport any sound. Malfoy said something and smirked. Hermione laughed and said something in return. Malfoy turned to her and straightened one of her stray curls and put it behind her ear. Hermione looked at herself, smoothing her blouse. Behind them the door opened, and the toddler entered. Malfoy turned, and the boy came running towards them.
Suddenly the boy's face was close to the mirror, his eyes full of laughter. The room filled with balloons, colourful balloons that bobbed up and down in a strange waltz. The boy clapped his hands in joy, shouting at the balloons. The way his mouth was set, it was obvious, that he said 'balloon', over and over again. Hermione and Malfoy laughed at the excitement of their son, that was inexplicable to them.
Hermione coaxed her son out of the room, and Malfoy followed her after a last look on his reflection, shaking his head very shortly, when the image became blurry for the tiniest flicker of a second.
The mirror became foggy again.
"Well, looks like the little one desperately wants to play with balloons." Ron remarked.
"This is not what I want you to understand," Harry shouted at Ron.
"Huh, Harry, no need to get off on me."
"You have to get it Ron, you have to finally get it."
"What?" Ron's face had reddened considerably, and he raised his voice. "That Hermione is happy with the ferret?"
"Yes, Ron. I don't know why, but this is the proof. They are happy. Absurdly happy you might say, especially if you look at their situation. For three weeks, they stood in front of this mirror and…"
Ron drew a deep breath. "And this is what you wanted me to see. So, I would finally understand. Because I am too dense to get it until someone rubs it in."
Harry sighed. "This is not about being dense, Ron. Don't belittle yourself."
Ron laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You know Harry. I'm not stupid, but sometimes I take my time. But I understand now. You set me up to this observation for three reasons. One was to keep me preoccupied and feeling useful after my dreadful divorce, another was that I would talk about this and you would have your diversion, and the third reason was, that I would come to my senses or as you put it, that I would finally understand."
Ron shook his head and smiled at him, fondly. "Harry, you are such an idiot. You risked your awkward truce so that I would finally get over Hermione."
"What, why?" Harry was offended. How dare Ron question his efforts.
"Why not just tell me. You, Ginny, George, my family. You all let me persist in my delusions for years."
Harry opened his mouth to protest. Ron raised his hand.
"No offence, Harry. I know you all probably meant well. I can picture it all too well. 'Let's not talk about the fact, that we all know that the amortentia was a frame. Believing that he was defeated by a bloody potion instead of love makes it easier for Ron.'"
Ron sighed. "Easy is not always the best, Harry. You indulged me instead of setting me straight."
Harry scoffed. "Neville did not indulge you at Luna's wedding. You could have realised it then."
Ron weighed his head. "Point duly taken, but otherwise you all tiptoed around me. You should not have done that."
All of a sudden, he barked a laugh, and shook his head. "Do you remember the homework planners Hermione gave us in third year?"
Harry was puzzled. "Yes?" Hermione's presents had been surprisingly unfitting for the recipients, on occasion.
"That's how I finally got it. I mean, I don't remember clearly and that is good. Establishing that memory vault must be the best thing you ever did. But I remember the gist and I got it, you know. It's not the fact that they have sex absurdly often for a married couple, it's not that they talk about what society needs, or philosophical questions or muggle literature, or that they probably have hundreds of books. There was that one morning, when they just talked about what they had planned for the day, and Malfoy had his day organised into slots that were not longer than half an hour. That is when it hit me. That they are made for each other."
Harry stared.
"I bet their house is as tidy as Snape's potions ingredients cupboard."
Harry had to laugh despite himself. "Yes, it is. You wouldn't believe that they have children if you look at their living room. It is unbelievable. Even with Kreacher, our house is never that tidy."
Ron raised his hand and let it drop in a gesture of regret, letting the air escape his lungs in an almost-sigh. "If I had known you would go to such lengths, I would have told you earlier. But I had to think about it first. My tremendous unwillingness to see what was there, all the time, right under my eyes. And it is so embarrassing to admit that I have been wilfully reluctant to see the truth."
"Are you saying, there was no need to do this?" Harry was flummoxed.
"Well, that was only confirmation of what I knew before or what I should have known before."
Harry tried to process the fact, that his little manouevre had not been necessary.
"I have to be off now, anyway, you know, that muggle wedding."
Harry shook his head. "Just don't get too involved too soon."
Ron rolled his eyes. "It's my love life, Harry. I'll manage."
He made to turn. "By the way, what was that flicker, just at the end. Did Malfoy see something?"
"It was too short for him to even notice, but I managed to freeze the frame." Harry studied Ron's face.
"He holds a wand."
"Well, that does not come as a surprise."
Ron left the room and Harry stared at the mirror. He activated the mirror again and looked at the couple. One more time, just to check, if it was really just the balloons.
He heard Ginny enter the room. He could feel her as a warm presence in his back.
"You won't see anything else, Harry," she told him. "You checked often enough. There is no other flicker."
For a moment, he froze. "I have no idea what you mean."
She came closer, sneaking her arm around his waist. "Oh, Harry."
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "If we would do this spell on our mirror. What would you see?"
Harry swallowed. He did not dare ponder that question. He feared it.
But Ginny was unrelenting. "Would you see me, our children, Richard, and all my family, including Percy, maybe flying in our garden?"
She rubbed his back. "Or you might not see any of that, because this is what you have and what you wanted all your life, a nice family, where you belong. The respected head auror. Someone who has the ear of the minister. Someone who makes a difference."
Harry looked at her, he could feel his throat closing in tension. He pressed his lips together, just a tiny bit, so that no words would come out by accident.
Her face was so close, a small smile just this side of sad was on her face. "I think you would see Hermione as your close friend, not necessarily with Ron, but with some amiable and utterly ordinary husband. Certainly not Draco Malfoy."
The air he inhaled only seemed to reach the top part of his lungs.
"I would certainly love to pick her brains on this big case. I cannot help but wonder if I might have solved this, weeks ago, if she would still have my back. Some of the stuff that came up is so advanced and she just uses it, casually, to make a present for her goddaughter."
Ginny closed her eyes and touched her forehead to his. "It's o.k. to admit that you would want her to be your close friend just for herself, Harry. I've always known that you miss her."
Harry's eyes pricked. "I've lost all rights to miss her." The words had tumbled out of his mouth before he could rein himself in.
Ginny studied him. "We all believed, Draco had drugged her, love. It made too much sense. Luna was the only one who didn't believe it. And it's not as if Hermione did nothing wrong. She pressured you before your testimony. And she dumped Ron rather spectacularly… announcing her marriage in the middle of the courtroom."
She reached out with her hand and stroked his unruly hair. "I honestly think that each and every one of us contributed to that mess. Yes, me included. I should never have let Hermione battle dragon pox on her own. I could have just kept my bloody mouth shut like Neville did. He just waited and observed."
Harry smiled at her face. He could see that her lashes were wet. "As if keeping your mouth shut was ever your forte."
"You wanted to save her from Draco. You thought he was a villain. And let's be honest, he gave you ample reason. Remember how he insulted you in the court room? He really gave a hand at shovelling his own grave then. With his scathing tongue and his intellectual snobbery… He should never have been sorted into Slytherin. He is not really manipulative enough. Pushing buttons is not the same as elaborate scheming."
Harry shook his head. "Daphne Antoinott. That is such a Malfoy joke, mean and witty, to the point, and even funny if it's not directed at yourself."
Ginny smiled. "See? And you were overprotective, like you always are." She rolled her eyes shortly, probably just to remind him that her participation in the arrest to come was not yet off the table.
"She doesn't miss me… and she doesn't even know the worst," he blurted out. The words burned in his mouth.
Ginny froze. "The worst?"
He sucked his lips into his mouth and bit on them hard. He could taste the copper taste of blood.
"Snape had a cache for his memories about Malfoy, about his defection, about the Phoenix Potion. I found it, even before Rina's birth. It was warded, and attuned to her. Snape wanted her to have it. He wanted them together, he wanted his godson to have the Gryffindor girl. And I transfigured the vial that held his memories, so that I could trick her into touching it. And then I kept it a secret. I never told anyone what I found. I hid Snape's memories in the vault at the department."
He could not look into Ginny's eyes. "Even knowing that Malfoy had not lied during the trial, I still thought that he was an obsessive bastard, who had practically forced Hermione to love him. I thought he was like Snape, when he originally defected, only fighting for the light, if it would mean that he got his love. Ensuring that he got his love. And I wanted to thwart his plans and save Hermione."
He had just blurted it out. He felt deflated, his lungs hurt, as if he had pulled his ability to breathe out of his body, or maybe it was the other way round and there had been a giant cancer ingrained into him, interwoven with his lungs. He had grown so accustomed to his guilt over the years, that he did not even feel relieved.
Silence settled on them. Ginny's hand had fallen from where she had stroked his hair and she made no move to put it back. Harry's heart clenched.
"That was wrong on so many levels, Harry," Her voice was just a whisper, flat and devoid of the tenderness it usually held.
Air flooded back into Harry's lungs in a half-sob. "I know," he pressed out. "But I don't know how to make amends."
Notes:
So, finally it's confession time for Harry... This chapter has been in my head for such a long time... Originally I thought it would be chapter 20 something, and now it is chapter 80...
I really hope my readers will like it... I decided to post today, though, because today is my lucky day, because it is my birthday. Just saying, not fishing for comments here, ;-).
Chapter 81: St Mungo's
Summary:
Harry and Ginny's talk is interrupted by other pressing business - auror business
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
They were interrupted by Lily who did not catch on the tension between her mother and father. She complained about being bored and stated that she wanted to play with Penny and the Granger girls she had met at Penny's.
Ginny shot Harry a look that told him clearly, that the subject would be discussed further.
"Would you like playing with your cousins? Penny is …." Ginny hesitated. She could hardly tell Lily that Penny was with the Granger-Malfoys today, because Luna was occamy hunting. "… not available today. I could drop you at Percy's and you can play with Will."
"Percy?" Harry asked.
"Well, I'm not sure I'm yet over George handing out portkeys to teenage Gryffindors just to filch dark artefacts from Malfoy Manor. It might be a while before I trust him with any of my children again."
She had a point there.
"I'll be right back." Ginny told him. "We need to talk about this, and we'll come up with something better than photos or phones, or even your invisibility cloak, Harry."
She shook her head and bit her lip. If she had still the temper she had had when they were newly-weds, she probably would have told him that his attempts at amends so far had been pathetic. And that he had sabotaged himself by his observation. And for nothing, because Ron had worked it out all on his own.
Ginny proceeded to their floo, and Harry followed her, lost.
He needed to think about what he would do if the arrest would not produce new evidence on the man, he suspected to have framed Malfoy. But he just sat down on the sofa and drew littles circles on the armrests. His thoughts whirled in his head. The case, his talk with Hermione and Malfoy, the mind-blowing revelation that Ron had finally gotten over Hermione, that Ginny knew how much he missed Hermione. He stopped himself just shortly before the mist of his thoughts cleared.
A silver-white lynx appeared, Wally's patronus.
"Boss, Baxter collapsed. Not sure, what it is. We're in St Mungo's." Wally's voice was slightly panicky.
Harry cursed. Loudly. He would have to check that. He wrote a short note to Ginny, because she had not yet returned from Percy and flood to St Mungo's.
Wally awaited him at the reception. He had a dishevelled look about him. Harry slowly guided him to the chairs, speaking in a low voice, trying to calm the distraught youth. Harry chided himself for sending him to Azkaban. The prison clearly had been too much for him. Although dementors had been driven off more than 12 years ago, the lingering depression was still too taxing for some, Wally apparently one of them. Harry had thought him to be of sterner stuff.
His report was somewhat rushed, and Harry had to go through the events three times before it made sense. Wally was red-faced and ashamed, because they had been separated and Baxter must have lost his patronus. Wally put forward as a plausible explanation that the lingering dementor's affection had just been too much for the older man. Baxter had cried out and Wally had found him, unconscious, cold, and clammy and had apparated them back. They had not found anything about an anchor for the dementors.
Harry smiled at the young man and patted him on his shoulder. "Did you eat chocolate, Wally?"
"I had a little," Wally hung his head.
"Get some more, you look like you could use some more. What did the healers say?"
"They treat him for being exposed to dementors on my suggestion," Wally said. "I'm not sure if this is correct though. I mean there are no more dementors in Azkaban."
The young man shuddered. "I don't even want to think about how the place must have been twenty years ago."
"There is a reason, I put an end to dementors in Azkaban." Harry studied the young man. "But I guess it will be fifty years at least until all the lingering effects will have vanished."
"Did you manage to hold on to your own patronus?" he asked Wally.
The youth nodded.
"That was no small feat under the circumstance," Harry praised him. "I think you should call it a day and go home."
"I'm sorry, I let you down, boss."
Harry shook his head. "You haven't let me down. It's protocol to retreat if an auror's life is in danger."
He patted the young man again.
"Baxter is a good man." Wally said. He looked at his feet.
Harry's skin was covered in goosebumps, his senses alert.
Harry nodded and peered into Wally's face thoughtfully. "It was awfully nice of Baxter to go against the rules and face the lower dungeons alone for the sake of a young colleague overwhelmed by Azkaban, wouldn't you say?"
It was just a hunch. A hunch he would not have had twenty years ago before he knew what betrayal was.
Wally looked up, his face flushed. "O Merlin, boss, how did you guess that?"
"Your bad conscience gave you away, Wally." Harry moved the corners of his mouth upwards, although he did not feel like smiling at all.
He stood. "I'll guess we let Baxter recover. He should be bright as sunshine by tomorrow. I'll assign more aurors to the next team that dares the bowels of Azkaban."
Wally hung his head and Harry patted him again, concentrating on the act of the benevolent older man who understood that young people made mistakes.
They both left the hospital and Harry made sure, Wally saw him disapparating.
He counted to thousand and then apparated again to another entrance to St. Mungo's. He cursed the fact that he had loaned his invisibility cloak to Colin Malfoy and threw a strong disillusionment charm on himself. He checked the reception desk, when it was unsupervised, found out where Baxter was stationed and went to find him.
Before he entered, he stopped the disillusionment and checked with a homenium revelio if the patient was alone.
Baxter was sitting in a chair just at the window, a box of chocolates on the table, seemingly untouched. But he was staring, his eyes following some sparrows on the windowsill, a silly smile on his lips. He did not look like someone affected by dementors.
Harry raised his wand.
"Clarus." That was the standard spell against a confundus charm.
Baxter's eyes focussed on him, proving that his hunch had been correct.
"Oh," he said. "Hello Boss!"
Harry sat down, his heart heavy. He had tested Wally, and Wally had failed the test, spectacularly.
"What happened?"
"I lost Wally."
Harry did not voice his suspicion that Wally had lost Baxter on purpose. He had known the young man had lied when he had grabbed on Harry's explanation. There was no way that Baxter would ever go against protocol.
Baxter shuddered. "Azkaban is still so terrible."
Baxter's eyes clouded again, his eyes wandering, the smile creeping back on his face.
Harry cursed and cast the clarus again.
"Oh," Baxter said. "Hello Boss!"
Harry's mood plummeted. A perpetual confundus. Baxter did not deserve that. He must have found out something important.
Time to test something new. Harry steeled himself. This would be straining.
"Scutum."
Containing the spell and the anti-spell within a scutum worked and Baxter was coherent. Fortunately, Baxter was capable to stick to important information and told everything in a clipped voice. He had 'lost' Wally in the lower unoccupied dungeons of Azkaban. He had decided to continue and had worked his way deeper and deeper into the old prison, his patronus alert, throwing flowers whose shrivelling led his way.
Baxter was resourceful when it came to ideas after all.
"You were right, boss," Baxter concluded. "There is something, I suspect is an anchor deep in the bowels of the island. But we won't be able to destroy it. There is a scutum on it."
Harry held on to the scutum that shielded Baxter with dogged determination, massaging the wrist of his wand hand. The question of how a scutum was on the anchor in Azkaban, when the spell supposedly was only invented a little more than twenty years ago would have to wait. It fit into one of Harry's ideas though.
"What happened then?"
"Wally had found me after all, and then something hit me, squishy, but if there was any liquid in it, it evaporated immediately. Everything is blurry after that. I lost my patronus then."
That damn carrier again. Harry could have screamed in frustration. He had to let go of the scutum. When it vanished, Baxter's alertness vanished as well. He recognised Harry, but babbled about some cases that had been closed years ago. Harry went along, urging Baxter to eat some chocolate.
Before he left, he promised Baxter that he would find that carrier and that he would find a way to remove the perpetual spells. Baxter smiled vaguely at him, congratulating Harry on having solved the Hunter case. Harry told him, that the analysis he had run on the cursed sapphire had been fundamental for solving the case, which made Baxter beam.
Back at Grimmauld, Ginny awaited him. She was fuming.
"I am going to hex you with the bogey bat hex from here to the arctic, Harry James Potter."
"Why?"
"Why, the man asks why? Percy told me, that you recruited McGonagall for your planned arrest. McGonagall! She's incredibly old, Harry."
"She's Order. She's still sharp as a knife. And I paired her with Ron." Harry had paired everyone he trusted, just in case. Only Neville, Pansy and himself would go alone. "Percy was not supposed to say anything. This is top secret," he growled.
Ginny let out a scream of frustration, that pierced Harry's ears.
She drew a deep breath, and pressed her hands together. There was silence for several minutes.
"Harry". Her voice was low and calm, and it frightened Harry more than her screaming. It held a tinge of disappointment.
"You are such an idiot. I refuse, I absolutely refuse to sit safe at home during the biggest crisis since Voldemort."
"I can't do that, Ginny." Harry said, almost choking from his own words. "I can't concentrate when you are not safe. If I fear for you, I am an absolute rubbish wizard."
"Even though you just lost another person you can trust?"
Harry swallowed.
Ginny waved the note he had left when he had gone to St Mungo's. "That means Wally is compromised, doesn't it?"
Harry nodded. "And Baxter is out. He was hit by a perpetual confundus."
Ginny narrowed her eyes. "And what exactly did you plan to do about that?"
Harry studied his hands and mumbled something under his breath.
"Louder, Harry James Potter. Don't be afraid to voice your crack-brained idea."
"I was thinking about asking Professor Greengrass from Hogwarts. She seems to be reliable."
Ginny came closer. "She seems to be reliable…. Her father is involved, Harry."
"So what? Some of your removed Prewett cousins are involved as well. And she fought against her father in court!"
She stuck out her index finger and poked him. "And none of us Weasleys on your wonderful survey will be arresting Helena Prewett. So, let my arrest Greengrass."
She had found the survey. Harry cursed himself. Harry took a shuddering breath under her scrutinizing eyes. "I know you're right about this Ginny, but I can't. I can't risk becoming an absolute mess because of my fear for you."
Ginny let out her own breath in a long sigh, deflated. Harry's heart skipped a beat. He needed her more than ever, and she looked crestfallen, desperate and sad. He wondered if she knew that his fear for her had become worse ever since he had lost Hermione. Forever. He remembered Luna's and Blaise's wedding, when he had understood, when it had hit him.
She fidgeted with her wedding band. Harry's eyes were glued on her face, but she refused to look up.
She suddenly stopped. Harry was glad that her eyes finally found his, but he was not so sure about the glint in them, that had not been there a minute before.
"I think, I have the perfect solution." Her smile was mischievous and reminded him of George. "We'll capitalize on your fear for me. I'll do the arrest and you'll be my back up, guarding me the whole time. That should help you stay focused."
"Ginny," Harry pleaded, raising his hands, his voice high pitched.
Her eyes flashed. "I am not budging in this, Harry. Your protectiveness has done enough harm."
He could hardly argue against that.
"Anything we can do today?" Ginny asked. "I am just in the mood to kick someone's ass."
Harry combed through his hair. It would probably stick out in every direction. "There is the problem, that I promised Malfoy that in putting down the conspiracy, I will chance upon evidence proving his innocence in the amortentia mess. He does not care how I get it."
"You do realise that this is the absolute minimum you can do as amends." Ginny frowned. "Is there any chance to actually find that evidence?"
Harry shook his head. "Not bloody likely. There is a possibility that there is a connection of this conspiracy to the amortentia framing, but it's just one of my hunches. I …" He stuttered. "I just suspect who is responsible, I don't know. If it comes to that I will have to frame him to fulfil my promise to Malfoy."
Ginny weighed her head. "Which could be a retribution, or it could be the wrong that doesn't undo another wrong. Anyone we can grill about that without attracting too much attention?"
Harry hesitated.
Ginny tapped her foot. "You have planned something for today or at the very least for tomorrow, I know it, Harry. Don't hum and haw."
"I had planned to make a sort of social call to Dawlish. He's been absent from teaching at Hogwarts since Christmas. And I could blame my interest to ongoing paranoia about the DADA teacher at Hogwarts."
"Do you suspect Dawlish?"
"I am undecided in his case. He might have been into it, or he might have been convinced just like the rest of us."
"Off to Dawlish then," Ginny said. "Take some veritasserum. That might come in handy."
She scrutinized him. "And don't you think for one minute, that this means I'll let you off the hook!"