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CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Discovery

James and Emily headed down to the quarters where the students were waiting. "Everyone who's coming to the duel, it's time to leave,"James told them. His gaze rested briefly on Bradley as he said it.

Bradley fell into step with Beverley and Gemini as the students began filing out. He looked across at Gemini. "You'll be okay covering for us?"

Gemini nodded. From her expression, Bradley had the feeling that a part of her regretted deciding not to help them. "Just…find Auntie Dora, okay?"

"We will,"Beverley assured her.

The pair waited until the students had headed out into the corridor and were moving towards the duelling arena. Then they slipped away from the group, down a side corridor. If anyone saw them go, they didn't say anything.

Beverley waited until no-one else was in earshot before talking quietly. "What now? I mean, we know Dora was suspicious of Professor Krum but she's not going to be in his office, is she?"

Bradley shook his head. "No. She must be somewhere outside the school."

"But where?"

Bradley took out a piece of parchment which showed a map of the school grounds. "I've been keeping a track of where all the search parties have been going. All the area here has been searched. I've seen aurors there. But I've never seen anyone in this area. I've asked them about it a few times and they tell me it's been searched but they can never give details."

Beverley pieced this together. "Like…their memories have been altered?"

"Right. So…"

"That's where we're going."

Harry and Hermione paused outside the door into the duelling arena. Martin and Lily were present as well but they hung back and gave the pair space. Hermione looked Harry in the eye. "I wish I was going with you."

"I wish you were too. But you'll be close at hand, and James will be there."

"You going off and doing things without me can end badly sometimes."

"I remember." Harry gave her a brief kiss before entering the arena. Hermione put her arms round Lily and Martin and they headed towards the spectator's area.

James gave Harry a nod of greeting as he entered the arena. "You all right?"

"Kind of want to get this over with,"Harry admitted.

"Look at Krum,"James suggested, nodding in Viktor's direction. "He's definitely got the air of someone who knows something."

"Welcome to the final one of our games!"Viktor called out to the crowd. "It is now finally time for Harry Potter to meet his final opponent!"

Harry wasn't entirely keen on the way he kept using the word final.

"There! There!"

Bradley raced across the countryside, gesturing madly to the shack they had spotted out in the field, some yards away. Beverley struggled to keep up with him as he plunged through long grass without any regards to safety. It was clear that he thought they'd found Nymphadora and Beverley suspected he was right. Finally, he reached the shack and bust the door open. "Oh my god, Dora!"

Beverley reached it a moment after him and saw Nymphadora on the floor, tied up with enchanted rope. Bradley touched the rope with his wand and it fell away, the spell ended. Beverley knelt by her friend. "Are you all right?"

It was a stupid question and one she wasn't really expecting a serious answer to. Nymphadora seemed to reach the same conclusion, shrugging off her concern. "Thanks for finding me. What's going on? The duels?"

"The last one's going on at the moment,"Bradley explained. "Your dad told us to use it as cover to search for you."

Nymphadora tried to get up. "We have to get there."

Beverley tried to support her, while thinking if there were any practical matters she should be thinking about. "Have you got your wand?"she asked at last.

Nymphadora gestured towards a cupboard. "They put it in there. They just left me here. He said that when he came back Dad would be dead."

Bradley was already rooting through the cupboard for the wand but turned at the remark. "Who?"he asked, even though he knew the answer.

"Philip Nave."

"Philip Nave!"Viktor declared loudly.

Harry gripped his wand even tighter, as Nave walked into the arena with a triumphant smile on his face. Harry could tell his son thought he had the upper hand. He probably wasn't too far wrong.

Headmaster Vrancic stepped forward, looking at Viktor in shock. "Professor, this boy has been expelled. He's wanted by the British Ministry of Magic for a number of serious offences. What is he doing here?" Vrancic's confusion rose as Viktor covered him with his wand. "Viktor?"

Harry looked at Viktor closely and his suspicions were confirmed. "He's under the Imperious Curse, Headmaster." He looked at Nave. "Your doing?"

Nave shrugged. "With the extra power I got from you, it was easy to master."

Vrancic looked around at the crowd of confused staff and students from both Durmstrung and Hogwarts. "Then…"

Before he could complete the thought, a dozen men with wands at the ready followed Nave into the arena. Their wands were trained on the crowd as they watched out for any trouble. With a flick of a wand, the glass separating them from the crowd disappeared, giving them a clear shot at anyone who tried to intervene. At their head was Hamilton Rice, one of the leading members of Theodore Nott's coup of the British Ministry of Magic. Harry had heard the rumours that he'd fled into exile on the continent. It was now obvious those rumours were true.

"Nobody will move,"Rice declared. "This contest has been planned in advance. It would not be fair to see it interrupted now, will it?"

Harry looked at Nave. "You don't want to face me on your own then?"

Nave gave a chuckle. "What, you think you can rile me up and get me to make a mistake? There's not going to be any doubts here, Father. This is you and me, to the end."