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CHAPTER TEN: The Unknown Enemy
Nymphadora walked into the staff communal area. "What aren't you telling me?"
Harry, Hermione, James and Emily all looked back at her. "Ten points from Gryffindor?"James suggested.
Harry sighed. It was clear Nymphadora wanted answers and pulling rank on her wasn't going to cut it. "Okay, sit down." He waited for Nymphadora to comfortably take a seat, then the rest of them sat around her. "We've really no reason to think that something's going on,"he pointed out. "I mean, we got all worked up about Zofia Dolohov and that was nothing."
Nymphadora wasn't entirely satisfied. "Are we sure she's not up to anything?"
"She had a chance to go after your dad during the duel,"Hermione pointed out. "And she didn't."
"And the Order have looked into her thoroughly,"James added. "So have the ministry. No record of dark magic. She seems to have had nothing to do with her father or his cause since his death."
Nymphadora still wasn't entirely put at ease. "But there's still something you're not telling me."
"There's nothing,"Emily told her. "Nothing that we actually know anyway."
"I guess the thing that concerns us most is these duels,"Harry admitted. "They put me in a vulnerable position."
"Viktor Krum was the one who suggested them,"Nymphadora pointed out. "And he's the one you're fighting next. You don't think…"
"What?"Harry asked. "That he's the one plotting against me?"
"Your dad and I have known Viktor for years,"Hermione pointed out. "He's a friend…sort of."
"But we are looking into him,"James assured his sister. "Just like we're looking into everyone here."
"But so far they've all come up clean,"Emily concluded.
Harry looked at Nymphadora with some sympathy. "I promise you, if we do get any real cause to worry, we'll tell you."
Realising she wasn't going to get any more, Nymphadora left the room. But her head was still churning. And more and more, her thoughts were leading her to Viktor Krum.
"What are you doing?"Bradley asked when Nymphadora returned to their room. She had gone to a desk and taken out a roll of parchment.
"Making a plan,"she told him.
Bradley waited for more. He didn't get it. "A plan to do what?"
Nymphadora paused, as though she hadn't thought about the question herself. "Investigate,"she said at last.
"Investigate what?"Bradley persisted.
Nymphadora looked around at him. "There's something going on here,"she insisted. "And someone here knows something about it. I just need to find out who."
Philip Nave headed down a long path towards a large house and entered the building, looking about him. "Hamilton? Are you here?"
A man came down the stairs: Hamilton Rice, formerly Britain's Deputy Minister of Magic under Theodore Nott in the interim government created by threats and blackmail two years earlier. He looked down at the teen. "I'm here. How have you been going?"
"Perfectly. Krum's completely under my control and Potter suspects nothing."
Rice didn't seem entirely mollified by this. "He'll know eventually. Your plan depends on it."
"I know. But he'll find out when I plan it. How have you been getting on?"
Rice hesitated. "I aided Theodore in his plans against Potter. The result was the two of us hiding out here. I agreed to give you shelter but this…"
"Are you saying you haven't done anything?"Nave persisted.
Rice sighed. "I've contacted the sort of men you wanted. And they've agreed to help us."
"Good. Then Harry Potter is in for a surprise."