Chapter Forty Six
Harry stood in front of the grim, large building, dismayed to see how little it had changed.
"It's flats." Draco said wrinkling his nose.
Harry nodded, he wasn't sure when the building that had once homed Tom Riddle, as well as many other children, had been converted into flats but it had. It was an orphanage no more and he couldn't work out if that was a good thing or not.
"Well… where do we go from here?" Hermione asked, shifting uncomfortably in her clothes, they were slightly too big for her under the polyjuice potion of the poor, random girl they'd stolen the hair from.
Harry didn't know if it was worth it but, he needed to see inside. He knew the Horcrux wasn't here, but he had a burning need to see where Voldemort had grown up, in the flesh rather than just as a memory.
"There's a flat up for rent." Harry pointed out, "Why don't we go and have a look?"
Draco let out a sigh but nodded, "Do you have an idea for a cover story?"
Harry looked up at the building, they couldn't be very exclusive, not with how they looked but then 'shabby chic' was coming into style wasn't it? At least that's what the women's magazine he'd pretended to read earlier before they found him a newspaper had said.
"Well I look easily old enough to be your parent." Harry said, checking his reflection in a nearby window, he was a forty or fifty year old man with jet black hair speckled with a lot of grey, "I'll be your father, Hermione, and Draco can pretend to be your boy friend."
Hermione tossed her bleach blonde plait over her shoulder and nodded, "Works for me, come along sweetums."
"Names?" Draco sighed, wrapping his arm around Hermione and hugging her tightly.
He had no desire to go into that building. It reeked of pain and loneliness, he made up his mind to buy the building when this was all over and do something nice with it, make it and the people inside all feel loved for once.
"Sarah Williams?" Hermione suggested, "Josh for you Harry and Eric for Draco?"
"Eric?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow, "Fine. Eric Pepco."
"That is a terrible surname!" Hermione laughed.
"Watch it, you'll be Mrs Pepco soon." Harry said, pinching her cheek.
"I'm keeping my maiden name." Hermione said, fighting to keep a straight face.
"Come along then." Draco said, walking boldly up to the building, his arm linked with Hermione's.
The entrance hall was surprisingly open and bright, with a light magnolia walls that did very little for the space but looked very modern.
"Hello?" a woman in a smart suit asked, walking over to them with a clipboard in her hands, "My name is Marie, may I help you?" she sounded very upper class but it was clearly put on.
"Josh Williams." Harry said, shaking her hand, "We saw the 'for rent' sign and wondered if we could have a quick look? My daughter here is getting her first house and has her heart set on London, even if she was raised as a country girl!"
Hermione let out a light laugh, "I want to see what all the fuss is about. It's not like I'll be stuck here forever after all."
"Well you've come to the right place, these flats are newly finished and a wonderful first home." Marie said, "Is it for one or two?"
"Well the place will be in my daughters name, but her boyfriend will be living with her." Harry said, gesturing disapprovingly towards Draco.
Draco rolled his eyes at Harry and held Hermione that much closer.
Marie looked over them and allowed herself a small smile, she saw a lot of families like this, with disapproving parents and rebellious children. They wouldn't end up renting anywhere, she'd been doing this long enough to know the sort of people that followed through, but there was no one else there and it looked to be a quiet day so she figured she might as well show them around.
"Well we have two bedroom and one bedroom flats for show, and a couple of studio apartments but
they do tend to go quickly. Which would you like a look around?" Marie asked, gesturing to the stairs.
"Umm…" Hermione smiled, "Let's look at two bedrooms shall we?"
Hermione, Harry and Draco followed her up the stairs into a bright an airy room, with huge windows in the celling.
"What was the building originally?" Harry asked, running his hand across the freshly painted plaster.
"It was an orphanage for many years, and then lay empty since 'seventy five, until it was bought up a few years back." Marie explained, "It's been a long time in the making, these homes. Each one is top of the range, minimal white goods are included. We're close to transport links and local shops, with three supermarkets in walking distance. Do you drive?"
"No." Hermione said, chewing her lip, "Eric is learning though." she simpered, Harry rolling his eyes.
"Well if you do get a car we have a wonderful enclosed car park out the back." Marie told them, straightening a slightly crooked curtain, "Having somewhere secure to keep your car really helps keep the insurance down."
"Where did all the stuff go?" Draco asked.
"Excuse me?" Marie asked, politely.
"Well this place can't have been empty when it stopped being an orphanage, where did all the left over stuff go?" Draco asked.
"It was disposed of." Marie said briskly, "Now, shall we move on to the one bedroom?"
They spent a fruitless hour wondering around the flats before someone else arrived to ask about them, dressed far more smartly that Harry, Draco and Hermione were. Marie made it very clear she would rather be showing the new arrivals around rather than the weirdos who kept asking if they could look in the walls or under the floors.
"It's really not here is it?" Draco sighed, "I'd… I'd just really hoped."
"It's still horrible in there." Hermione shivered, "I mean it looks so nice but it's just… not."
"I know exactly what you mean." Harry said, wrapping her in a hug.
"I did find this though." Hermione said, digging into her pocket, "It's about Maggie I think, well it's about a Maggie."
Harry took the very old newspaper clipping, "Where did you find this?"
"In the entrance hall they had that board of what the house used to be, it was in there so I just copied it." Hermione shrugged, "I made sure she wasn't looking before getting my wand out obviously."
It was from a local country newspaper and announced that David Graves and his wife Maggie had won the county show by a landslide, in the same year as giving birth to Oliver, their second child. There was a picture of the smiling family with a fluffy looking sheep, a lot of vegetables and home bakes.
Harry recognised the woman at once, "You were right, this is You-know-who's Maggie, I'm sure of it."
"It has an address, I thought we could go and see?" Hermione suggested, "If he really loved her he might have left something with her."
"He hated her though." Harry pointed out, "He thought she'd abandoned him."
"He hated the Gaunts as well but left the ring at their old house." Draco pointed out.
Harry nodded, "Well, my curiosity wants to go see anyway so, what are we waiting for?"
A quick apparition later they were standing on the outskirts of a picture perfect little village, surrounded by freshly ploughed fields and the first daffodils of the year.
The polyjuice potion had worn off but they didn't bother to replace it in such a sleepy village in the middle of nowhere. They just stayed close to one another and kept a hand on their wands at all times.
"I suppose the graveyard is the best place to start?" Harry suggested, guiding them towards the church, "I think Dumbledore mentioned that she'd passed away."
Several people greeted them on their walk, smiling and lifting flat caps. Harry, Hermione and Draco smiled back, mumbling replies. It seemed everyone greeted everyone around here.
The church was only little, but also picture perfect. There was stained glass in the windows and flowers growing around the edge of the building.
Every headstone was tended to, the grass neatly cut and not a speck of litter.
"Are we sure she's dead?" Draco whispered, looking around the stones.
Harry shook his head, "Not really, I mean Dumbledore said so but she'd only be… eighty five now I think."
"She's here." Hermione said softly, "David Graves, 1910-1994, the most wonderful husband and father you could ask for, and Maggie Graves, 1913-1994, beloved mother and beloved soul. May they find each other in heaven and live in paradise forever, together."
"They died in the same year?" Draco asked, running his fingers over the stone.
"Yes… she got cancer you see and he just couldn't live without her." a voice said clearly from behind them, "May I ask what you want with my mother?"
Harry, Hermione and Draco spun round to see a middle aged man carrying a large bouquet of expensive flowers and holding the hand of a young girl with bright red ringlets.
"Your… your mother?" Hermione gasped.
The man nodded, "Yes…"
"We meant no disrespect." Harry said, "We're just… we're looking for something."
"Grandpa Tom, can we go put the flowers down now?" the little girl asked.
Hermione, Harry and Draco quickly stepped aside.
"There you go sweetness." the man said, handing her the flowers that weren't much smaller than she was, "Remember to take all the wrappings off, we don't want the hurting any birds now do we?"
Harry watched the little girl lay the flowers on the grave and carefully take off the plastic wrapper and ribbon before taking happily to the headstone about her latest days in nursery."
"She's lovely." Harry smiled, "Is she your daughter?"
The man laughed, "Granddaughter, hence the 'Grandpa Tom'." Tom smiled, wrinkles forming at the corner of his eyes, "Her name is Charlotte."
"Oh, sorry, of course." Harry said, smiling back at the kindly old man.
"May I ask you something?" Tom said, frowning for a moment.
Harry nodded, taking a very slow step forward, not letting go of Hermione and Draco's hands.
"You… you look very much like a man that my mother used to care for." Tom said slowly, licking his lips as his mouth was suddenly very dry, "His name was Tom as well… are you related to him? It would be nice to think he found someone in the end."
Harry sighed, "No… no I'm not related to that Tom… it is because of him that we're here though."
"I don't follow you, I'm sorry." Tom said, "How do you know about him? About us?"
"Grandpa, can we go for ice cream now?" Charlotte asked.
"We don't mean to keep you." Hermione said kindly.
Harry wanted to stay with them though, he had so much to ask.
"Why don't you come with us?" Tom asked, "I would like to continue talking to you."
Harry nodded, before the others had a chance to object, dragging them forward after the little girl and her grandfather.
"Harry are you sure this is a good idea?" Draco asked, barely above a whisper, "What if this is a trap?"
Harry shrugged, "I have to find out. You-know-who… he was so different around Maggie, until he found out about Bridget he was almost normal around her."
"Harry that was a long time ago." Hermione said, kindly but forcefully, "He's not that man any more, and hasn't been for sixty years!"
"I know that." Harry pouted.
"And I know you'd rather find another way to stop him, that didn't involve you having his blood on your hands." Hermione snapped, more harshly than she'd meant to, "But I don't think that it's possible."
"Hermione, it wont hurt to try and see if we can learn anything." Draco said calmly, "We'll just be extremely careful."
Hermione nodded and let out a loud huff, realising she wasn't going to win the argument, however right they all knew she was, that this was a huge risk they shouldn't really be taking.
Tom led them to a small ice cream shop that made Fortescue's in Diagon Ally look modern and chic. Tom ordered Charlotte a large cone of butterscotch toffee, and a dish of French vanilla for himself, before offering Harry, Hermione and Draco one, insisting it was the best ice cream they'd ever have.
They all chose their ice cream, not wanting to seem rude, watching carefully as it was served so nothing could be slipped in.
Tom led them to a small table outside, where the sun was bright but shaded and got Charlotte settled in her chair before turning his attention back to Harry, Draco and Hermione.
"Now, what were you saying about you coming here over… Tom?" Tom asked, running a hand down Charlotte's hair, she was totally absorbed in her ice cream and not listening to a word the boring grown ups were saying.
"He… he didn't settle." Harry said, trying not to make it sound to horrific, "In fact I think your mother was the only one who ever loved him."
Tom gave a sad laugh, "Yes… when mother got ill she would… the medication stopped the part of her mind that filtered her thoughts, she would talk a lot about… just about everything, she said she knew in her heart he was hurting, that he'd never found his home. I heard so many stories of him growing up. And Hogwarts, he talked all about Hogwarts, every summer he was back with Ma he loved it as much as he loved her. You'll know all about Hogwarts of course."
Harry, Hermione and Draco nodded.
"Yes, yes we do." Draco smiled, "We went there ourselves."
"So… you're trying to learn about Tom…the other Tom." Tom said slowly, "You know, I lived my life as 'little Tom'. My whole family call me that, even at my doctors' surgery, just round the corner I'm Doctor Little Tom to half of my patients. I always wanted to meet the man I was named for… I doubt that is the case now, correct?"
"Correct." Hermione said, "I'm… I'm sorry it worked out this way. We didn't expect to run into you…"
"It's quite all right." Tom said, waving his hand dismissively, "Charlotte and I come to visit Ma and Pa at least once a month. She loves to talk to them, often wonder if there's a Hogwarts letter in her future to be honest."
Harry smiled, "We have to ask you something, something a little… delicate."
"Please, go on." Tom nodded.
"Was… was your mother, or father, buried with anything?" Harry asked slowly, realising how insane and rude this was going to sound, "Or was the grave disturbed afterwards?"
Tom shook his head, "The grave wasn't disturbed, Ma had a rather large family in the end, what with the five of us and then all the children, and grandchildren. Peggy had eight children and each of them have at least one child now, there was someone there everyday. We would have noticed any disturbance."
"I see." Draco said with a sigh.
"As for being buried with things… she had very little of sentimental value, she had a very frugal childhood after all, I'm sure you know she was raised in an orphanage?"
"I know some of it." Harry said carefully, not wanting to explain how he knew what he knew, even for someone as understanding as Tom Graves seemed to be, it would be a lot to take in for him, "I have been studying 'Tom', to better understand why he is the way he is…"
"She took with her a bible and the wedding ring my father gave her… not much else though." Tom said thoughtfully, "We all made her cards, same with Pa but nothing else."
"What about things that she might have left you?" Hermione asked, "Things that… that felt dark or bad somehow? Something you didn't like to be around?
"Or the children didn't like to be around. Children are often good at sensing these things." Draco put in.
Tom smiled and patted Hermione's free hand, "No, no there was nothing like that in the house. Everything my parents owned was touched by love, they were… were truly blessed people." he said with a sniff, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping his eyes.
"I didn't mean to insult you, or upset you, I'm sorry." Hermione said quickly.
Tom shook his head, "It is quite all right my dear. I can tell that this is very important to you all, even if you can't tell me what it is, or why. I wish you luck though."
"Thank you." Harry said with a smile, "It means a lot."
Charlotte had finished her ice cream, a toffee coloured ring of it around her mouth. She lent, sleepily, against Tom's side.
"Let me get you cleaned up horror." Tom chuckled, wiping away the leftover ice cream, "Did you enjoy it?"
Charlotte nodded, "I always enjoy it."
"I think I'd best get you home, you're dropping." Tom said, "Is there anything else you needed to ask me?"
Harry, Hermione and Draco shook their heads.
"No, thank you." Draco said, shaking the man's hand, "You've been really helpful."
Tom gave them a small nod and looked very seriously at them for a moment, "Well, good luck finding whatever it is you are looking for… if you could, would you let me know how it all turns out for you?"
"When all of this is over, we'll come and tell you everything." Harry promised.
Harry, Hermione and Draco watched the man pick up his granddaughter, walking slowly down the country lane away from them before apparating to their next camp site.