Chapter 21

"I believe that owl is for you" Luna said, gesturing to the brown owl rapping insistently on the window. "Damn the owl" Harry said, pacing around the dusty and creaky floor of Ollivander's. "Please" Harry said more softly after reading Luna's face "what were you saying about the wands?" Luna frowned but continued "I did my paper on it, when I was accepted into the shop as an apprentice. Lots of research, had to restart halfway through, all my parchment was stolen by nargles …" Harry tried to nod politely and not show how impatient he was.

"The research question?" Harry prompted, fighting to keep his voice even. "If wand woods have a tendency to transfigure objects into their own wood, when the wood is not expressly thought of during the spell." Harry snapped his fingers. "That's the one. I knew I remembered you saying something like that."

The rapping on the window had increased in intensity. "You could have sent me an owl about this" Luna said in her dreamy voice "I don't see why you had to wait for me to get back from Africa to speak to me in person. Fascinating trip, by the way. Baobab wands have some very unique qualities…" Luna trailed off. She could clearly no longer ignore the owl that demanded to be let in.

Harry opened the window, turning away to hide his frustration. Luna was right. The owl was for him, since it immediately began circling his head, trying to get his attention. He ignored it, turning back towards Luna. "What was the conclusion of your research?" "Are you sure you don't want to get that?" Luna asked, not taking her eyes off the bird "it seems important." Harry clucked dismissively. "Luna I would not be here the second you returned from your trip asking you these questions if this wasn't important."

Harry dodged the beak of the barn owl. Luna sighed but continued "yes, it is more likely, irrespective of wand type or manufacturer. The effects are heightened further if the caster of the spell is distracted or emotional when transfiguring." Harry punched the air in celebration, narrowly avoiding the talons of the now frantic owl. He was so victorious it barely registered to him how odd it sounded to hear Luna speak so technically. Luna smiled. "I love wands. They are a marriage of art and magic. And even then, there is always an element that stays unexplained."

Harry nodded. He took the letter off the owl's leg, and finally the flurry of feathers around his face calmed down. "And this" Harry said, producing the thin wreath from its evidence bag and placing it in front of the young wandmaker "is this an example of that phenomenon?" Luna poked the wreath delicately with the tip of her wand. "Origo Arbor" she whispered under her beath. Harry could discern no change in the wreath, but it must have meant something to Luna because she nodded, tracing a complex pattern of runes above the wilted leaves.

A few tense moments passed. The owl, displeased by the fact that Harry had not opened the letter that lay forgotten in his hand, started nipping at his ear. "Well?" Harry asked, realizing he had been holding his breath. Luna's overlarge eyes met his. "It's… possible" she said. "How possible?" Harry pressed. Luna stroked a leaf of the wreath, uncurling it softly with the pad of her thumb. "It's a beautiful piece of magic" she said finally "but sad. Whoever cast it was very talented. I cannot say for certain. But the wood base of this wreath is chestnut."

Harry smiled. "Chestnut. That's a rare wand wood, isn't it? You said so when Teddy got his wand from you, I remember." Luna nodded, smiling at the memory. "A sweet boy" she murmured. The owl took a painful chunk out of Harry's ear and he winced. "Luna, can you tell me how many chestnut wands Ollivander's has sold in the last, say, three decades?"

Luna thought for a second, absentmindedly twirling a strand of her hair with her wand tip. "It might take some time, but I could look. Garrick kept scrupulous records." "How long" Harry asked, trying to push the owl off his shoulder. "An hour or two, I would reckon." Luna said. "Great" Harry replied, his heart soaring. "I'll wait."

Harry took a seat on the spindly little chair in the corner of the room as Luna began rummaging around in the back. Finally, he unfurled the letter, and quickly scanned the contents. Immediately, his face darkened. "Luna" he called out. "Hmmm?" she replied, humming to herself as she searched. "Can you actually send the results to the auror office? Address it to Teddy, he'll still be in. I need to step out."

Luna popped her head out from behind the shelves. "Everything alright?" She asked. Harry forced a smile. "All good. Just some Hogwarts business." Harry waited until he was outside the shop door before he let the false smile slide from his face. He apparated into Hogsmeade a moment later.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourselves?" McGonagall questioned, her voice wavering in anger. Albus shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Scorpius looked down at his toes. Goyle hovered threateningly behind them. "I…" Albus started but found he could not come up with any credible excuse. "I'm sorry" he finished his sentence off meekly. McGonagall raised her eyebrows. He had never seen her scowl this deeply.

"It has taken months for me to build trust with this group" Goyle growled from behind Albus's back "if this gets out…" Goyle did not need to finish his sentence. It had only taken Albus a moment to realize that until now, he had never actually seen Goyle angry. His slow movements, preference for grunts over speech, and tendency to lurk in shadows must have reflected a sort of shyness more than a general disdain for all around him. True anger on Goyle was much, much scarier.

"I understand the gravity of the situation" McGonagall replied in clipped tones. "Now I ask for the motivation" she said, eyeing both boys who could not meet her gaze. "We were trying" Scorpius tried to answer, his voice breaking off. "We were trying to help Elle" Albus said, seeing no way out of the truth, or at least a partial truth. McGonagall's mouth twitched into a frown. "Explain" she demanded.

Scorpius opened his mouth to speak, but Albus was quicker. "It was my fault" he said, his green eyes shining with fervor in the candlelight. "I suspected that Goyle was involved in the letter. I… I know he was practically a deatheater during the war, and I didn't trust him. I noticed that Tobias and Esmond were leaving our dorm room at night, and I followed them once. I couldn't get into Goyle's office, so I came up with a plan to impersonate Esmond. I thought Goyle was… er… recruiting." "Tobias called me a scumsucker. On the train" Scorpius cut in. "I wanted to help." "We were going to tell Elle once we found out for sure" Albus added, interrupting whatever Scorpius was going to say next. The blonde boy opened his mouth once, then closed it, nodding along. "She had nothing to do with this, I swear" Albus finished.

McGonagall made a face as if to say she did not fully believe him, but at that moment, there was a loud knocking on the door. Goyle the let in both of Scorpius's parents, as well as Albus's own. A wave of anxious dread washed over him. So, he was really, really in trouble then.

"Minerva" Harry said as way of greeting. "We came as fast as we could." The headmistress nodded her welcome. "This is a very serious infraction" McGonagall said. Harry turned to look at his son. "What do you have to say for yourself?" he asked. Albus was incensed. How dare he get angry at him! If his father had been doing his job at the ministry, he would never had gotten into this mess.

"Your ear is bleeding" Albus said coolly. His father lifted his hand to his hand, and Albus saw he had peck marks on his hand as well. Scorpius's father stepped in. "Where did you get Polyjuice potion?" he asked severely. "I…" Scorpius started. "I stole it" Albus cut him off. "My dad keeps ministry Polyjuice potion in his travel bag. The password is James' birthday." Albus said. He actually had no idea if that was true, but he knew his father wouldn't speak up against him. There was a tiny thread of pride propping up his anger. Albus could feel it.

"Are you implying you smuggled Polyjuice potion into the school?" McGonagall said, disbelief in her voice. "Impossible" Goyle interjected. "We created a diversion" Albus said. "Snuck the Polyjuice into my trunk after Goyle went to investigate the carriage crash." It was close enough to the truth that it seemed plausible. He saw McGonagall think, and he could see reluctant acceptance in her face.

"This is…" McGonagall started. "Unacceptable" Scorpius's father stated. His pale face had two high patches of red on his cheeks, just like Scorpius's did when he was angry. "I agree" Ginny said. Albus could not bring himself to make eye contact with his mother. Many of the portraits behind McGonagall's desk were calling out for expulsion, and Albus could feel the cold sweat on his back. Was this happening? Would he really be kicked out of the school?

"Two weeks suspension" McGonagall said decidedly. He saw Scorpius bite his lip, holding back tears. The joy of not getting expelled was enough to cushion the blow of two weeks away from Hogwarts. "And a personal letter of apology to caretaker Goyle" McGonagall added. Draco curled his fingers over Scorpius's shoulder and started leading him out of the room. Albus noticed that he was trying to make eye contact with his father, but Harry was ignoring him.

Ginny looked like she was about to pull him up by his ear but thought better of it at the last second. Albus stood on his own, waiting for his father to move towards the door. He didn't. "A moment, please" Harry said. "I need to speak to Dumbledore" he said, gesturing to a currently empty portrait on the wall behind McGonagall's desk. Ginny turned Albus's shoulder for him, leading him out of the room.

Harry stood in the headmistress's office as his family filed out. McGonagall gazed at him over her glasses. "Your children will be the reason I retire, Potter" she said tiredly. Harry nodded. "James will be back in detention tomorrow as well, I'm warning you now. Flitwick is currently returning a considerable volume of the great lake back to where it had been displaced to the third-floor corridor." Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. It was all too much for the moment. He had a lead he needed to chase.

Dumbledore still hadn't returned, but there was a faint tapping on the window. Harry recognized the ministry owl immediately.

Harry,

Luna sent me the files from Olivander's. I scanned them quickly before sending them your way. The full list is on the other page, but one name stuck out to me. Chester Edevane – he was a muggleborn who disappeared about thirteen years ago. It got some attention in the prophet. People were worried that it had been a hate crime and that the pureblood movement was making a play for power again. Nothing ever came of it though, since no one ever took credit for the disappearance. I spoke to Fawcett, he was on the case back then, and he gave me his notes, also attached to this letter, but there's not much to go off of. Let me know what I can look into for you.

Hope all is well,

Teddy

p.s. Luna mentioned you were called to Hogwarts on important business. Hope everyone is okay there. Please get back to me as soon as you can.

Harry quickly thumbed through the other pages of the letter until he found Fawcett's notes. Teddy was right, there really wasn't much to go off of. He skimmed the content, eyes falling on a single name. In brackets next to it were the quickly scrawled words 'last known living relative'. Harry folded the letter into his jacket.

He was dimly aware that McGonagall had been watching him this entire time. "Potter" she started. Harry was not in the mood for a lecture. "I must be off" he said abruptly cutting her off. McGonagall's brow creased. "Thank you, for looking out for my sons. I know they've inherited my knack for finding trouble." McGonagall ignored Harry's feeble attempt at a joke. She looked like she wanted to say something, but Harry was already halfway out the door, waving at her. Even the white flash of Dumbledore's beard appearing in his portrait was not enough to slow Harry down.

He needed to solve this case. And time was running out.