When they approached his house, Dawlish opened the door himself. He did not look ill at all. He looked like a man who had had plenty of exercise in his garden. For a moment, his face lit up, when he saw Harry and he greeted him and Ginny with an enthusiasm that was in Harry's opinion quite uncalled-for.
Dawlish offered them tea and chatted away merrily, showing off his flower beds, explaining in detail how he handled his dahlias. The dahlias were beautiful specimen indeed and after Ginny had praised them, Dawlish presented her with a colourful bouquet which Ginny accepted with grace.
All of a sudden Dawlish scowled at Harry. "Took you long enough to come and visit me."
Harry was taken aback. It was not as if he and Dawlish were good friends. They had never been close and when Harry had taken over as head auror he had suffered through long-winded explanations how to do his job, even after Dawlish had gone to Hogwarts. Harry had borne them with patience caused by his fervent wish that listening to the man would at some point let the flood of advices drain naturally.
Dawlish smiled again, as if Harry and Ginny were his long-lost children. "But now, you are here."
They enquired after his health and he assured them that he felt splendid. Harry did his best to not sound too surprised.
"I just had enough of teaching" Dawlish shrugged.
"Headmaster Flitwick thinks you're ill," Ginny told him.
"He must have misunderstood my letters," Dawlish informed them.
Ginny and Harry exchanged a quick look. Dawlish was a walking inconsistency.
Their host summoned cutlery and cups with several waves of his wand and set the table. The tableware was much more fanciful than Harry would have expected in a bachelor's household. There were even tiny porcelain animals that held the napkins down.
Harry picked up a napkin and took of his glasses. He drew his wand and spoke a cleaning spell that would get rid of the occasional lash and drops on the glass. He moved his face close to the table, blinking rapidly and took the opportunity to study the porcelain animals through squinted eyes. They were just close enough that he could see that they were intricate figurines, detailed, and they looked as if it were ready to spring to life. Harry felt a shudder run down his spine as if someone had slipped a piece of ice down his shirt.
He tapped on Ginny's knee and Ginny began to talk about teaching. Dawlish's mood became sour and he complained about bratty teenagers, sassy children and young adults who thought they knew all. Harry wondered why Dawlish had ever gone into teaching.
Ginny entered a lively discussion with Dawlish about how to treat teenagers and in the heat of the argument she hit Dawlish's teacup and it went flying. She made a big fuss about it, jumped up and Harry was hidden from Dawlish's sight for a short moment.
He picked up the figurines with his napkin and removed the stoppers.
After Ginny had done a quick reparo on the teacup, Dawlish had refilled the cup, and they settled down again.
"There is something I wanted to ask you, about a case," Harry finally said. "I would like to hear your opinion."
"And here, I though you wanted to visit an old sick man," Dawlish shook his head ruefully, smiling.
"You just told us you are not ill." Ginny frowned.
Dawlish shrugged. "Did I say that? You must have misheard. I haven't been well for ages."
Harry's danger sense flared. He suspected Dawlish had been hit by something. A confundus?
"There are attacks on Muggleborn children," Harry told him. He studied Dawlish face, trying to weigh his reactions.
"I heard about that," Dawlish nodded.
Harry moved the corners of his mouth. "Isn't that funny. Because I swore my team to secrecy."
"You know how it is." Dawlish shrugged. "There are always people who talk."
"Not about that," Harry insisted. Very few people knew about this and Harry was reasonably certain they would keep their mouth shut.
"I got the impression that you suspect Malfoy of something. There was that article in the Prophet. Although they were very vague and didn't say anything about muggleborns."
Harry's lips felt frozen. "You know that the Prophet is rubbish more often than not."
"Who told you?" His eyes bore into Dawlish's. "About the attacks on muggleborns? I need to know."
Dawlish evaded an answer. "I'm not going to tell you."
Harry gave a tiny nod. "You should though. I should know who spreads tittle-tattle."
Suddenly, Dawlish face contorted. "I can't tell you." His voice was a rasp.
Harry frowned and exchanged a look with Ginny. Her face became horror stricken when Dawlish's whole body began to spasm.
Dawlish reached for one of the porcelain figures and pressed it hard.
"That won't help," Harry told him and opened his napkin, to show him the stoppers.
Dawlish's eyes widened and he began to stutter unintelligibly. He stood up, drawing his wand in a fluid motion, but it did not stay in his fingers for more than a second. It flew safely in Harry's hands at his silently evoked disarming spell.
Harry pocketed Dawlish's wand and threw a chaining spell at Dawlish.
"Why does it have no effect?" Ginny wanted to know. "I put the whole vial in his tea. He should be singing like a canary."
Harry pressed his lips together and adjusted his glasses.
"He must be under the imperius."
Ginny was dismayed.
"Devinculo." Harry fired the standard spell against imperius at Dawlish.
The spasms stopped.
Dawlish sank down.
"Who told you about the Muggleborn case?" Harry asked.
Dawlish cried. "Can't, not allowed." His voice was so low that Harry barely could make out the words.
"Finite incantatem." Ginny tried it with the standard undoing spell.
Dawlish shook his head frantically. The spasms began again.
"He was hit with a perpetual." Harry cursed. "The veritasserum cannot overcome that."
First he needed to relieve Dawlish of the stress. "O.k. Dawlish," he said. "You don't need to tell me about who informed you."
Dawlish let out a shuddering sigh. The spasms stopped.
"Can we ask him other questions? Questions he might be able to answer?" Ginny's face was full of pity.
"We'll try that. Be prepared to cast a scutum when I'll ask you to."
Harry tried to calm his breathing. These people really were ahead of him.
"Look, Dawlish. I'll try to do this as painless as possible, but we desperately need information. I'll tell you what I suspect, and you just listen. That is not against your orders, is it?"
Dawlish jerked his head. Harry hoped that meant agreement.
"At the end, I'll cast the counter curse and Ginny will contain this under a scutum. I know this works. Then you can confirm or reject my theories."
"I am sorry, that I did not realize that you wanted to alert me by calling in sick." Harry was sure that that was at the heart of Dawlish's erratic behaviour.
"You are here now," Dawlish pressed out.
Now, this would be painful. Suddenly, Harry was glad that this would not come as a surprise for Ginny. He closed his eyes.
"Let's revisit the Malfoy trial. You were angry that Malfoy was not sent to Azkaban."
"Me, and you, Weasley, and quite a few others." Dawlish remarked.
"I don't think you were angry enough to do anything about it, but you agreed to let someone else plant that cauldron at Malfoy's flat, a cauldron that held residues of amortentia, as obligingly analysed by Slughorn, a version brewed without any magic. Or maybe you just overlooked the evidence that it might have been planted."
"I didn't dig into it. I accepted the evidence on face value." Dawlish clarified. Harry thought it interesting, that he could do that. The imperius probably would only give him trouble with the current crime.
"Only it was not brewed according to the recipe in the manuscript at the Department of Mysteries, the one that takes a year to brew. It was Vinicius' version that takes three weeks."
Harry inhaled slowly. "Slughorn just added some ginger, so that he could claim that it was the version that takes longer. And superficial analysis, only for the ingredients, would not contradict him. It was clever. An amortentia version brewed for a year. There were so many people who wished Malfoy ill… But nobody would have thought to start a potion at a time when Malfoy was still presumed dead. The potion was started the day Malfoy walked free out of that courtroom. And three weeks afterwards he was framed."
Dawlish looked at him as if that were news.
"So, you didn't know that? Well, you're in good company. Took me a quite a while to work that out. We were all so ready to jump to conclusions. None of us thought about consulting with another potion master, none of us thought to ask Smith why he even searched Malfoy's flat again. I assume someone put the idea in his head. Easily done, just a suggestion planted, subtly, nothing more. It could have even been done without magic. Just make a remark where Smith would hear it. It could even have been Smith's own idea, although I doubt that."
Harry sighed. "We lapped it up eagerly."
"What did Slughorn gain from it?" Ginny asked.
"Snape's notes on Vinicius." Harry told her.
Dawlish shuddered.
"But Vinicius is crap." Ginny protested.
"No, just convoluted. My guess is it's all hidden in there: All the spells that Snape discovered, or rediscovered, the Praeda spell, the scutum, the carrier for perpetual spells."
Dawlish began to wail, as if in pain.
"Looks as if I'm cutting close." Harry remarked.
"Slughorn has been dead for what, a decade now? Harry, if he had the notes…"
"Slughorn did nothing about them. He just milked the notes and didn't dabble otherwise, apart from inventing the spell cleaning potion. For which he was awarded an Order of Merlin. The other stuff was too dangerous, probably, bordering on the Dark Arts, too advanced."
Harry rounded on Dawlish again.
"You were ordered to take Snape's memories from the vault, weren't you? You must have taken them shortly after I established the vault. Someone owed you a favour or just showed the vault to you on a visit."
"Harry, how would anyone even know there were memories?"
Harry grimaced. "Snape probably hinted at his memory stash in his notes. When they did not find them at Snape's house, they checked elsewhere."
Dawlish began to cry. Big, fat drops fell on his immobilized hands.
Ginny looked at the ex-auror, her face contorted in pity.
"They were lucky to find the memories. Only, they were not as useful as they thought. Nothing about the carrier in them, nor about Phoenix Potion."
"So, the carrier was discovered by Vinicius? How did no one ever find that before Snape?"
"Ekrizdis made an anchor for the dementors at Azkaban and apparently he used a perpetual scutum to prevent the anchor's destruction, as Baxter found out. My guess is, that Ekrizdis unlocked at least some of Vinicius' secrets and that he used the carrier. But all of his stuff was burnt as dark magic, when the ministry took over Azkaban."
"Who, Harry, who is behind this? Who imperiused Dawlish? Who took the notes after Slughorn's death?"
"The person who knew he had them, because he had given them to Slughorn in the first place."
Harry ran his hands through his hair.
"The man with the legal knowledge to lay the trap in the amortentia frame. The man who had been publicly humiliated by Hermione when she won the Malfoy trial."
"Sloane," Ginny breathed.
Harry nodded. "The amortentia frame was cleverly done, it has the stamp of a lawyer over it and I should have seen that. I should have guessed that Dawlish had gotten legal advice."
Harry frowned. "But I'm not sure, why he started to attack muggleborns or why he began to work with people who do, and for some time as well. Sloane is not known as a blood purist, although several names that came up in our investigation certainly are. And it's so much more than just slyly working with the possibilities of the law. Back then he might have just wanted petty revenge, but I wish I knew what his agenda is now. Why did he start looking for Snape's memories? Why did he suddenly need his research on Vinicius?"
"What about the goblin connection?"
Harry shook his head. "Goblin silver is needed for the alert spell on the figurines, but I'm sure there is still more about that. I suspect they really need vast amounts of Goblin silver if you look what they have bought. Now, we need to make good use of the veritaserum. And we'll see if Dawlish can add to this."
Harry spoke the counter curse to imperius again and Ginny held a scutum.
Dawlish confirmed everything Harry had guessed. He had found the memories, going through the memories Harry had filed into the vault, looking for cases he could not remember. There never had been a theft that involved someone named Major after all. He still couldn't help them about the carrier, nor did he have an idea of where the stolen magic of the muggleborns went.
"I don't know, if it's even important," Ginny said. She rubbed her wrist, still holding on to the scutum. "They might just want to ensure that there won't be any muggleborns in the future. And they just let them slowly bleed their magic out."
"Or they might use them to boost their own magic. Something went wrong in Emma's case. Emma became seriously ill and lest I grew suspicious they attacked the muggleborns in Wiltshire, attempting to frame Malfoy. Snape used a spell on Malfoy to boost his magic and that was discussed in his trial."
"Well, they know that you are willing to suppress evidence when it comes to Malfoy."
Harry flushed. "Were willing," he corrected. "I know better now."
Ginny's pressed her jaws together, her face strained. "Any other question for him?"
"Do you know about a connection to Goblins? Or to Dementors?"
"I don't know why they need Goblins. But I know they were promised wands." Dawlish's voice was rough although he hadn't said much. "No idea about Dementors."
"One more question. Do you know if they have Phoenix Potion?".
Dawlish shook his head. "I don't know."
Harry signalled for Ginny to stop.
Ginny let go of the scutum.
"Phoenix Potion?" Ginny looked at him questioningly.
"If Slughorn found Malfoy's preparations for his second batch after the battle of Hogwarts, he might have run an analysis and worked it out."
"Malfoy brewed a second batch?"
"He and Snape talked about it, after Neville had closed the Room of Requirement for him."
Ginny shook her head. "If I weren't worrying so much about this conspiracy right now, I would tell you that you deserved that. I would scream at you, that you absolutely deserved that. Withholding Snape's memories bit you in the ass, spectacularly."
"You just told me," Harry pointed out.
"Don't smartass me, Harry," Ginny scowled, her eyes flashing with anger.
"I've been telling myself the same, you know, almost every day since the New Year. You are right."
Some other feeling entered Ginny's eyes, compassion perhaps, fading anger? Harry hoped that he did not misread that. He felt like he had never needed his wife as much as in this crisis.
Dawlish who had breathed very quickly and unevenly, trying to control himself in vain, finally slumped and lost consciousness, the conflicting spells that had been put on him had proved too be too much.
"What do we do with him?" Ginny asked.
"Grimmauld. Kreacher will have to watch him, until we can make the arrest. We might need to do it before we find the carrier and hope that we find evidence."
He looked at his watch, grimaced and slapped his forehead.
"I forgot James' and Richard's quidditch game."
"Oh, that growing list of shortcomings of the great Harry James Potter," Ginny's voice was flat, and Harry could not decide if she was joking or reprimanding him.
Notes:
I admit it: I lied...
When Neville and Astoria took over DADA teaching at the beginning of the year, some of my lovely readers voiced the suspicion that a sick DADA professor was a bad sign... And I brushed over that...
Chapter 86: The art of avoiding wrackspurt infestation (August 27, 2004)
Summary:
At Blaise's and Luna's wedding Gryffindors have to skirt attracting wrackspurts - Or where Ron mopes and Neville goes off.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Nobody who looked at the bride and the groom could deny that they were a happy couple. And the weather played along as well. The party in the Lovegoods' garden was merry, there was a slight breeze, plenty of champagne and life in general was as good as it gets. Ron had just signed the contract to play for England as keeper. He certainly did not regret leaving the auror department.
There were enough Gryffindors to balance Blaise's Slytherin bunch. It would have been a potentially volatile situation, but Luna and Blaise had addressed the problem quite openly in their invitation. "We kindly ask the guests not to give in to wrackspurts' meddling. The bride will give the anti wrackspurt treatment to anyone who is in need."
And the groom had promised to throw anyone out who thought about igniting the house rivalry. Blaise had been quite candid about that, not on the invitation but he had informed every Gryffindor about the fact that his treatment would be less benevolent than Luna's.
So Gryffindors and Slytherins actually mingled, raised their glasses to bride and groom and clinked them, informing each other, that they would do that 'for the bride.' Ron saw Ginny talking with Daphne Greengrass and her younger sister, and Harry had a chat with Theo Nott, which was a miracle in itself. Ron did not remember ever having seen Theo Nott talk to anyone in school.
Ron tried to stick to the Gryffindors though. Hermione was present, and apparently the Slytherins were interested in her daughter. Rina had been the flower girl and she had made everyone laugh, when she had set her little face in a determined frown – a frown that made her look like Hermione instead of Malfoy for a split second – and instead of gently scattering the flower petals had hurled them at the ground with a swing, as if she wanted to punish them for a deadly offence.
Ron had listened in to more than one remark, that little Rina just looked like Draco and wasn't it hilarious. He did not think it was hilarious at all. Looking at Rina flared his hate for Malfoy. He had been married to Hermione for less than a month and still had managed to irrevocably print his stamp on her.
He chatted with Seamus and Dean and admired their newly adopted son, David. It was Seamus' turn to look after the baby and he abstained from drinking. Ron told them, that he thought this was a bit exaggerated, but Dean laughed. Seamus admitted that he had set the baby's musical clock on fire the last time he had drunk at a party. Dean patted his husband and promised he would abstain at the next wedding.
Ron was a bit sloshed himself and remarked that there were musical clocks who should be set on fire if they played the wrong songs. He reconnected with Padma, who was the only Ravenclaw present, even indulged in a little flirtation.
When some of the food had been eaten, Blaise stood up, raising his glass.
"As you can easily see, I am the groom, not the best man. But the man I wanted to be my best man is unavailable today and Theo only agreed to play the role in his stead, if he would not have to do a speech."
"Luna was fine with that. She told me that I like to just be in the midst of attention anyway, and that I should make the most of it."
Luna smiled happily at Blaise and Ron wondered, not for the first time, how this unlikely couple had come to be.
"Luna is right as always and I want to make the most of it, but of course only to brag about my wonderful bride and the people who helped us."
"Raise your glasses!"
"To Xenophilus for actually allowing me to marry his daughter! We are so glad, you are here!"
Everybody clapped and Luna's father really looked very happy.
"To the Limpiepinkies who somehow latched on to us, even though I wasn't even sure I wanted them to!"
That drew out quite a few chuckles.
"To Tatki, my dear elf employee who had to be persuaded to be freed, just so that I could come closer to Luna. I stand in awe of your sacrifice."
Blaise urged the elf to stand up and Tatki pulled at his long ears in embarrassment.
"Since this is sort of necessary at any wizarding event, I also give a toast to Potter." …
Blaise made a dramatic pause.
"Have no fear though, Harry. I won't mention any of the usual things that are mentioned in your presence. I just want to thank you and Ginny for being friends to Luna. I know this turned her into an honorary Gryffindor, but I'm resigned to that. And I have high expectation that at one point in your life you'll just be known as the husband to the famous chaser from the Holyhead harpies! To Ginny, the bride's maid! The Potter I meant!"
Many laughed at this, Harry the loudest. He bent down and kissed his wife, whispering something, eliciting a wide grin from Ron's sister. Ron tried to ignore the tiny prick of jealousy. He was not sad that Harry and Ginny had wed a month ago. He was not.
"To Pansy, just for holding my hand, when I despaired of ever winning Luna over. Kindred spirits, eh Pansy?"
Parkinson flushed.
"To the man, who would have been my best man, if circumstances had not prevented it. He was privy to all my elaborate and very futile attempts to woo Luna. When I unburdened myself to him, when Luna had disregarded yet another of my expensive jewellery presents, he just looked at me and shook his head….
"'Blaise', he said, 'you are such an idiot. You don't even want Luna to be impressed by jewellery or fawn over it, because that is not who she is. Do something better with your money.' So, now I am officially hooked to spend money on all kinds of magical creatures' research. To Duncan Miller."
Ron almost choked. He had not known that Blaise was a close friend of Malfoy. He didn't remember seeing them together that often in school. Slytherins and Gryffindors both reacted with an awkward silence. Ron scowled at Hermione who grinned at Blaise. She had raised her glass as had Parkinson. Luna smiled, she smiled!
Blaise scowled at his fellow Slytherins. "It's not contagious, you know, especially not by just mentioning him." The Slytherins duly raised their glasses while the Gryffindors fiddled with theirs, a fact Blaise ignored.
"To Theo, who stepped in. He has brought the rings, said all the right things, organised the presents. Apart from refraining from the best man's speech, but that means I can talk, so he is the simply the best."
Theo Nott looked at his feet, while his fiancée Daphne Greengrass beamed at him.
"The next one will surprise you. But Dragon pox needs an honorary mention. Dragon pox and Hermione Granger-Malfoy brought us together. I'll never forget the exquisite experience of being lectured by a very greenish and feverish Hermione that it would be so much better if there was a vaccine against Dragon pox. I had to educate myself on vaccines and I agree with our swot in residence Hermione – which means that she has my full support on her next submission to the wizengamot. To Hermione and research on vaccines!"
Hermione laughed despite being called a swot. She had never liked being called that. Ron shook his head sadly.
"To Rina, the lovely flower girl. Those petals certainly will stay on the ground." That had everybody laughing.
"One toast left. To my lovely wife, kindest witch, limpiepinkie finder, expert at the repulsion of wrackspurts and to my chagrin an honorary Gryffindor. To Luna!"
"Hear, hear" some of the Slytherins shouted.
"You may drink to my health as well, but it is not really necessary. I am convinced that Luna will do her best in the years to come!"
Blaise's little speech was followed by a round of applause and Ron clapped along.
"If he wanted Malfoy to be his best man, why didn't he just invite him? It might have been a bit awkward, but still…", Seamus asked. Ron was relieved that he did not have to ask that question. He could hardly believe that Luna would be glad about that, but knowing Luna and her ability to look past grievances, she might have agreed.
"Luna's father is very ill." Neville told Seamus. "They didn't want to wait. And Luna wanted Rina as a flower girl."
"Even if they had waited, they could have hardly invited Hermione and Malfoy both even after the ban." Ron remarked.
Neville blinked at Ron, his face had a sheepish expression.
"Well, Hermione is going to get a divorce, now that the elves are sorted, isn't she?" Ron told him. "She's just stubborn about it and doesn't want to admit that she was duped and drugged."
"Ron," Harry said. He sounded tired. "Don't".
"We promised Luna not to indulge wrackspurts in any way," Ginny's voice held a warning.
Neville shook his head quite vehemently.
"What is it?" Ron addressed him.
"This is not going to happen, Ron", Neville told him. "There is no way this is going to happen."
Now Neville had to face the combined anger of Harry, Ginny and Ron, but he ignored them and let the flat of his hand fall on the table and stood, a fact that was bound to attract attention, if only for his height.
"Wake up, Ron".
Ron felt a hint of anger. Why did even the mention of Malfoy spoil an otherwise perfect day. He would not lose to Malfoy. He was a war-hero, a man about to start a stellar Quidditch career, there was no way a criminal who had wriggled his way out of a just sentence, a man who couldn't even do magic any more, a man who would hold back Hermione's career would win over him.
Neville inhaled deeply. "Look, it is really not that difficult. I've approached this problem by the Luna Zabini née Lovegood approved method, and I made a list of possible outcomes, of anything that might happen after the contact ban ends."
He raised his index finger. "One: Malfoy was framed, there was never any amortentia or anything else involved. Hermione loves him. I don't even need to spell out what will happen, eh?"
"Two, there was never any amortentia involved, but the separation has led to an estrangement. Hermione doesn't love him any longer…. But there are the elves, and there is a possibility, that somehow a divorce will unsettle the elf situation again. So even if feelings have grown stale, they might still decide to give it a try, if not for the elves – which is scenario A, then for their child, scenario B." Neville ticked of his middle and ring finger.
"Three, amortentia was involved, but elves are still there, and Rina." Neville had raised his thumb.
"A child can be raised alone. She's done a good job so far. Hermione won't stay with Malfoy, not when she realises, she was a victim of amortentia, even not for the bloody elves."
Neville pursed his lips. "Because sacrificing personal happiness for a greater cause is not something Hermione Granger does? We're talking about the woman who obliviated her own parents, so that she could hunt horcruxes with Harry."
"That was far more important than the elves," Ron argued. "I'm sure she'll not sacrifice her lifelong happiness for elves. And the elves' situation is settled anyway, I'm certain."
Neville did not deign to answer. He raised his pinky. "Next possibility, amortentia is involved, and despite the elves and Rina, Hermione decides to dump Malfoy because of that. Nobody would blame her for that."
"See. She'll need help then, because she'll be devastated. And Harry and I will be there for her."
"You moron," Neville almost barked. "When did Hermione ever react well to someone who approaches her with a condescending 'I told you so'. You should get this, Ron. Whatever the scenario, there is absolutely no chance, you and she will be a couple again. No chance whatsoever. You're lucky, if she speaks to you again at some point in your life."
Ron was at a loss. He didn't know what to say. Briefly his eyes met Padma's who had followed the exchange with interest.
"You did this all wrong, Harry and you. You should have approached her, and observed her, and should have made an effort to get real proof, if amortentia was involved, instead of doing a full force legal attack…. You think Malfoy robbed her of her own free will and all you could come up with as a solution was to force her by law into a separation she most assuredly did not want..."
Harry was not taking this with equanimity, Ron saw. His face had blanched, and he pressed his teeth together. It looked almost as if he were about to grind his teeth. Ron was tempted to try and punch Neville. What had gotten into the man?
From the corner of his eyes, Ron saw Luna talk with Parkinson and point at their table. Parkinson nodded and started to come over.
"I don't know, why you would defend Malfoy, Neville. The man was a death-eater, and a nightmare in school." That was Hannah. She was upset with her boyfriend and with good reason. Her aunt had been killed by death eaters. Ron nodded at her. She would talk some sense into Neville.
But Neville rounded on her. "This is not about Malfoy, Hannah. This is about Hermione, my oldest friend, who saved my ass more times than I can tell, and not only in potions."
"Is your defence of Parkinson about Hermione as well?" Hannah asked. Her face held a deep scowl.
Neville's face darkened several shades. He did not realise that Parkinson was only a few strides behind them, probably not yet in earshot.
"Parkinson is a superb auror. If I say so, it is only the truth."
Ron shook his head. "Parkinson wanted to sell Harry to Voldemort, remember?" He did not care that she might hear.
Neville slammed his hand on the table again, hard. "Are you going to judge her by one sentence she said, when she feared for the lives of her parents, siblings and Merlin knows how many cousins?"
"She participated in the lessons of the Carrows like all Slytherins," Ron said. Since when had Neville become such a snake lover? Parkinson's face told him that she had heard. Her face burned.
Neville's jaws clenched. "Don't talk about 7th year, Ron. You have no idea. You were off, camping with Harry, you have no idea."
"That is absolutely true, Ron, sorry mate." Seamus interjected, just as Ron wanted to sputter his objections. He clapped his mouth shut. Maybe he really had no idea.
"I don't hold that against Pansy, Ron, and neither should you." Harry obviously had decided to side with these traitors. He nodded at Parkinson who now was definitely within earshot. Neville turned and his face took on an alarming shade of red.
"Neville has it right. Pansy is an amazing auror. And we make a great team, don't we, Pansy?"
Pansy was visibly flustered and shot a short glance at Neville who had finally fallen silent.
"Thank you, Harry," she said in a voice that sounded unusually tiny and timid.
"Let me guess," Harry said. "Luna sent you over to make sure, we are not getting overwhelmed by wrackspurts." He smiled, although Ron could see that it was an effort for him. His face was still deadly pale.
"Exactly, well deduced," Parkinson seemed to have found her self-confidence again.
"I'll tell Luna, I am sorry," Neville told her. "I'll rein myself in. Maybe I should get an anti-wrackspurt treatment."
He turned on his heel and practically fled. Ron was tempted to join him. His mood had soured considerably, but no anti-wrackspurt spell would help against mentions of Malfoy.
He looked at Luna and saw that Hermione was talking with her, her daughter on her arms. Malfoy had sired a mini version of himself on purpose. Ron did not know how he had done it, but he was certain about it.
Notes:
I know I am a terrible tease. Readers probably wanted a big resolve for the muggleborn case and instead they get the Blaise - Luna wedding.
But since this was demanded as well, I doubt anybody will complain...
Chapter 87: Carriers
Summary:
The information on the conspiracy is brought together and the connection to the past revealed.
Notes:
I won't give a recollection of what we know about the muggleborn case, because it is basically all in this chapter.
It's still the same day... And many people in Neville's and Pansy's living room.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
They landed right in the middle of the Longbottom's living room and Hermione collided with Colin and Prudy of all people. She gaped.
"Prudy, Colin, what are you doing here?" She picked herself up and saw that Draco, Robert, Neville, Meg and Penny were also there. They all looked out of it. Colin had red eyes, as if he had cried, Draco was white as a sheet, the other children looked disturbed, and Neville had a set look about his mouth that gave him a very determined look as if he were about to behead another snake.
"What did the Pott-Weasel disaster twins do this time?" She touched Colin's shoulder, but her boy only leant into her in a barely perceivable movement.
She really should have told Harry to get his son and nephew in hand. She would owl him and add that to their conditions.
"Nothing." Colin protested.
"You don't look like nothing happened. Why are you even here?"
"Our son has just lost his innocent outlook on the world." Draco sounded as if he had quite a difficult time himself. "Let me explain."
And explain he did.
The occamy eggs were forgotten. Blaise stood still, the drawers in his hands, Luna opened and shut her mouth, Teddy had let himself fall on one of the chairs, and Hermione felt nausea come over her.
"Enslaved with dark magic that was harvested from a broken oath of friendship for centuries?" she whispered. "And we are tied to the undoing of the curse?"
Colin nodded.
"How did this not come out before? How did I not find anything about this?" Hermione was indignant.
"When you did your research on us, the curse had become tightened again, after Dobby's liberation cut off the possible undoing of the curse by the Weasleys." The tips of Prudy's ears almost touched her shoulders. "None of us could have even given you a hint."
"And why are you so pale, love," Hermione turned to Draco. "I can hardly believe you were surprised."
"I have a terrible headache, but that is only a nuisance. Colin has pledged himself and his life to the elves' cause in a promise that might as well have been an unbreakable. And I bet you're pregnant again." Draco gave her a rueful smile.
Hermione scoffed. "Pregnant? Nonsense, I…." she stopped herself.
"Merlin," she whispered. She had forgotten to buy that damn after potion. She had actually forgotten. And her period was overdue. She let herself fall unceremoniously on the sofa at Draco's side.
"You knew before me. How embarrassing." She took his hand and began to giggle. She could not help herself.
Colin looked mortified and Meg scrunched her face. Well, children did not like to think about the fact that their parents had sex.
Luna beamed. Neville had a pained look that let Hermione sober up fast.
Prudy hopped at her side and patted her hand. "We'll help. The cat is out of the bag now."
Hermione waved her hand. "Well, it is your fault ... if only after a fashion." She shook her head.
"I have to leave, now" Prudy said. "The Gryffindors will be partying and I have to inform the other elves."
She hugged Colin, waved at them all and disapparated with a loud crack.
Neville turned to Blaise. "On another note. You can put these down, Blaise."
Blaise balanced the drawers, a dazed look on his face.
"I take it, this is evidence for the occamy smuggling," Draco observed.
There was another crack and Blaise almost dropped the drawers, as Pansy landed within inches of him, two people in tow, one of them vaguely familiar.
Blaise cursed loudly. Hermione could understand, she wouldn't want to be hit with one of those eggs either.
Pansy gazed up at the unexpected invasion of her living room. Teddy who had been silent during the whole reveal of the elves' curse came to life again.
He helped Pansy up. "I found the carrier, Pansy, I found the carrier." His appearance suddenly looked very much like a young Harry. It was eerie.
The young man pointed at the drawers. "We'll get them now."
"Is this about the big conspiracy?" Draco asked. He stood, doing his best to appear unruffled by this Harry look-alike, and went over to where Blaise had carefully placed the drawers.
"Love," Hermione said warily. She had no idea what seeing so many encased scutum spells would do to him.
Draco froze and stared.
Robert pointed at Teddy. "Potter," he said.
Teddy flinched and his appearance went back to normal. Robert looked puzzled at Teddy's suddenly purple hair.
"That is excellent, Teddy, good work." Pansy praised him.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at the young auror. He had the grace to be embarrassed. "I mean, we all found them, the occamies and there were bloody dementors, and …."
He looked directly at Hermione. His cheeks had grown red. "Thanks for saving me."
"Occamy eggs." Pansy exclaimed. "Occamy eggs."
"Occamy eggs practically spill over with magic, shortly before they hatch. It makes sense," Luna told her.
"And dementors?" Pansy dug deeper. "Were you caught at your sleuthing?"
Teddy flushed an even deeper red that clashed with his hair. "I might have alerted them to our presence."
"Then we have to act really fast," Pansy scowled at Teddy.
"I still think there was an anchor for dementors, that got triggered when I came closer to the eggs, curse carriers or whatever these blasted things are," Blaise argued. "If the witch in the shop had alerted somebody, the place would have been swarming with villains. We covered our trails. Still, they might find out any time, that we broke in."
Pansy looked at Draco and Hermione. "I am sorry, I have to alert Harry."
"Do that." Draco waved his hand. He still looked shook, but Hermione could see that he tried to pull himself together. "This day has been a ride already."
Pansy took her wand and produced her patronus. Then she introduced the two persons she had brought as Dudley Dursley, Harry's cousin, and his muggleborn son Neill who had been hit by a praeda curse. Hermione could feel her own eyebrows climbing into her hair. Now she knew, why Dudley seemed vaguely familiar. She had probably seen him a few times.
"A muggleborn within the same family…. Interesting." Draco remarked. "Hit by a curse that plunders. Plunders his magic I assume."
Pansy nodded and turned to Neville. "Nev, I don't think the school scroll failed."
She pointed at the watch at Neill's wrist. "There is goblin silver within. It syphons Neill's magic to someone else, someone who must have a piece of corresponding jewellery, that receives the magic."
"Muggleborns' magic is plundered and syphoned to whom? Squibs?" Draco asked.
"Matilda Fawley," Neville exclaimed. "Last autumn she was bit by a mandrake root. She had to remove her necklace so we could treat her wound and was unable to do any spell for days. We thought the shock had destabilized her magic."
"Andrej Boots," Hermione was certain about that. "Terry told me his mother gets a fit, when he takes off his family ring."
"The Rosiers and the Sloanes. They had children who came into their magic after everyone had given up." Draco put in.
"And after they had consulted with Mr Fjodor, Natasha Boots' father." Hermione added.
"Mum," Meg had gone pale. "Is it the same as my bracelet?"
"No," Hermione told her. "Your bracelet only sends information and only if it's activated. There is no constant flow of magic."
Meg let out a loud breath of relief, and Hermione hugged her and Colin as well, while she was at it. Robert reached out to them and wanted to be included.
There was another crack and Harry appeared, side by side with Ginny. That was a surprise. As far as Hermione knew, Harry left Ginny out of all auror work.
Neville murmured something about a hen house under his breath.
"Potter," Robert exclaimed and pointed at the head auror. Draco groaned and Blaise laughed, while Harry pointedly just nodded at them all. He looked at Pansy with expectation in his eyes. His gaze slid over Hermione's face for the fraction of a second.
Pansy showed him the occamy eggs. "There's the praeda curse. Encased in occamy eggs that are close to hatching. They apply it permanently and the muggle children get a piece with goblin silver that syphons the magic to squib children who have a matching piece, possible from the same goblin silver heirloom. An heirloom that was cleaned of any other spells beforehand. Probably with Slughorn's potion."
"There are over fifty muggleborns who have come down with something called Bethan's disease." Harry said.
"How did you learn that?" Pansy's eyes widened.
"Believe it or not. Ron hired a muggle detective who ploughed through the data of the muggle National Health service. He told me this morning." He studied the oval carriers.
"They probably use the occamy eggshells as well." Luna explained. "It would strengthen the connection if they used it from the same egg that was used to apply the curse."
Draco stood on the other side of the drawers. He studied Harry who pointedly did not look at him. "The scutum spells are probably for important wizards and witches your conspirators want out of the way, Potter. Minister Shacklebolt, Pansy, maybe Flitwick."
He then pointed at the carrier that was of a sickly green colour. "That one's meant for you, Potter."
"For me?" Harry asked, locking eyes with Draco over the rim of his glasses.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, for you, Saint Potter, the man who lived twice and all that. They probably reckon that you'd finally stay dead with a perpetual avada."
Ginny was seized by a violent shudder.
"How did they work out Severus' spell?" Draco asked. "I assume praeda is Severus' invention."
"We have to act fast," Harry ignored the question. "Nev, Pansy, Teddy, prepare for the arrest."
Teddy stood alert. "Me?"
"Yes, you cover for Baxter. He was hit with a perpetual confundus this morning."
Harry raised his wand.
"Potter," Draco narrowed his eyes. "There is time for one question. The praeda spell. That was the one you mentioned. The spell Severus used on me."
Harry looked at Draco over the rim of his glasses. "The last piece of the puzzle. I only managed to verify this today. Sloane had found Snape's assorted notes on Vinicius and sold them to Slughorn in exchange for a favour."
"Someone with legal knowledge and someone with knowledge on potions." Hermione put in. Draco nodded when her eyes met his.
"The favour was the analysis of this so-called amortentia." She stated. Anger burned in her guts. Even after all these years. Even after having learned about the elves and the bloody 900 days. Harry's gaze met hers and he nodded tersely.
"Just out of pettiness," Draco pressed his lips together. "Not some Voldemort supporter, not some Order member. Sloane was just pissed, that Hermione had won my case. He probably thought I had deserved at least two and a half years. So, he ensured that I would get a sentence, if not Azkaban."
"How long have you known, Potter?" he insisted. Hermione wondered if Harry would tell him that his questions would have to wait. Harry stood on the balls of his feet.
But Harry obliged him. "I still don't know, Malfoy. Ginny and I just grilled Dawlish and his suspicions align with mine. I'll arrest Sloane and then hopefully, I will know."
He took a deep breath. "And hopefully, I'll get evidence."
"Dawlish," Draco seethed. "Mr 'I need five minutes to explain how to brew tea'. So, he wasn't in the know? I can hardly believe that. He's been always my second prime suspect after the Weasel King."
"He never acted on his suspicions, that the amortentia was a frame. That is his crime. He let it lie because he wanted you punished. I guess he deeply regrets that now." Ginny said.
Draco and Hermione snorted simultaneously.
"When Harry and I visited him just now, he was under a perpetual imperius, because he was ord… ", she hesitated shortly and looked around, her forehead scrunched in worry. "… because he had guessed too much. It took us some time to work around that, but we managed."
Ginny's voice sounded slightly off and strained. She exchanged a look with Harry, and Harry breathed something voicelessly, that looked like a 'thank you'. Strangely enough that made Ginny scowl. Hard.
"Dawlish did the only thing, that he thought might alert me that something was wrong and excused himself from teaching at Hogwarts." Harry added.
"The DADA teacher curse," Neville shook his head. "Could have realised that. I even joked about that."
"So, what was in it for Slughorn?" Draco asked. Hermione burned to know as well.
"Slughorn wanted his hand on Snape's notes, if I knew him at all. I think he suspected that there would be hints to the Phoenix Potion as well. He could have earned perpetual fame for that. Once you were out of the way of course. I am sure, he did at least use Snape's notes to invent the 'spell cleaning' potion. I doubt he used the notes otherwise. Too dangerous."
"He just deciphered Severus' notes and didn't invent shit," Draco burst out, and Hermione nodded. That made sense. Slughorn had always been one for analysis, not for invention.
Harry squirmed, opened his mouth and closed it again. He let out a loud breath, that came close to a snort.
"Is it possible that Slughorn found your second brew of Phoenix Potion after the battle of Hogwarts? That he worked out how it is done?" There was a deep frown on Harry's face. "That could be very dangerous." His voice sounded pressed.
Draco frowned shortly and closed his eyes, as if that would help him remember. "I don't even remember clearly. I stored that away with Gregory's wand. It's even messier than the rest of my memories of that time. I didn't have enough time to finish that, but it could have been a basis for an analysis."
"I fear so," Harry said. "Sloane must have retrieved Snape's notes when Slughorn died. He was the executioner of his will. He took the notes and possibly Slughorn's research. Sectumsempra, praeda, scutum. They must have been all in there. And Snape's observation on the carrier for perpetual spells. Snape must have spent years on finding the gold nuggets in Vinicius' trash."
"And then Sloane hooked up with some of the old families probably because his own grandson is a squib, and then they decided they would rectify the muggleborn abnormality, once and for all." Hermione shuddered.
"Clever, subtle. Not a reign of terror like Voldemort. They could just feign that muggleborns and squibs were a problem of the past. They didn't even intend anyone to die, did they? I mean apart from you. And possibly Draco." She shook herself. "Take out some other people with obliviating spells and a scutum on top. Drop them in the muggle word.
"They did indeed shy from murder. If the data of the National Health Service is anything to go by, this twisted connection between a muggleborn and a squib might last a lifetime."
"They would condemn wizards and witches to die out in the long run, though." Draco shook his head.
"How so?" Ginny asked.
Hermione wondered how they could not see it. She pointed at Neill.
"Do you think it is happenstance, that there is another muggleborn in your mother's family, Harry?"
She searched the eyes of the people present and they looked at her as if she had spouted nonsense. Her eyes met Draco's and he gave her a small smile. She could practically hear him in her head: 'yes, love, other people are not as brilliant as you. You have to explain.'
"Muggleborns descend from squibs. And if squibs would not mingle with muggles, all these purebloods would die out. Wizards and witches need muggles. For genetic diversity. I think the magic itself ensures that. That's why there are squibs in the first place."
She could have sworn it took them all several minutes to process. If she had been younger, she would have scolded them for the idiots they were. Since she was forty after all, she just shook her head at their stupidity.
Draco smirked. Colin looked like he wanted to add something, but Draco pressed his shoulder and whispered something in his ear.
"Uncle Harry," Teddy interrupted the silence timidly. "We should do the arrest now. We have all the evidence. The carrier, the connection to the goblins and the money laundering, the cover up with the Muggle government."
Harry nodded.
"Neville to Fawley, Pansy to Greengrass, Teddy you take Helena Prewett in Baxter's stead. Don't go alone. Hannah Abbot will go with you."
He turned to Luna. "Are you both still up for it?"
Luna nodded. "You wouldn't believe how they tricked these occamies. I am really angry at them." It was not an exaggeration. She even looked angry.
Blaise made a face and then he laughed. "As long as you admit, that not taking this occamy smuggling serious did really bite you in the ass, Harry."
Harry threw his hands in the air. "Get in line, Blaise. It will take me weeks to atone for my sins in this case. My ass is so covered with bite marks, that I can barely sit."
Several of the others laughed. Not Ginny though. She scowled again.
Then Harry waved his wand, producing one patronus after the other in an impressive display of strong magic. The stags stood in alert.
Harry sent them all away with a wave of his wand. "We strike now. Be prepared for advanced perpetual shields and, possibly, Phoenix Potion."