Chapter 4
Amelia Bones stormed up the stairs, walked down the short hallway before ascending another flight. Storming, she had learned early in her career, was a very effective tool. Particularly when one was on the shorter side for a wizard. Even more so when one was a woman in a man's field. Even greater a tool when one was a woman in charge of a Department of Law Enforcement. And most importantly, storming was a great tool when used against brilliant, narcissistic control freaks who thought they ran the country just because they took out some dark wanker they used to screw in Godrick's Hollow. (Yes, she knew that bit of gossip. Very few people who'd ever consulted with Baggshot didn't. A miracle that little fun fact didn't make its way into her published works.)
Amelia's storming was complimented by an angry scowl, a skill she'd perfected as Moody's first apprentice, before the scaring got to bad and it looked like he was frozen that way. She wondered, occasionally, what the younger aurors at the office would think if she told them about the smiling, brotherly (if overprotective) young man who'd trained her. She could barely believe they were the same. Although Moody had been changing over the last… year, perhaps? Not pulling 3-day shifts at the office, conspiracy boards noticeably un-updated. If Amelia (and the entire world) didn't know any better, she'd think he had a girlfriend or something on the side. But, Moody had worked illegal amounts of overtime in the years before, and he was still the best for his ability to glance at a case file and find fifteen new leads, if not all his other skills, so she tolerated him mostly doing paperwork from home these days.
Of course, without Mad-eye glaring through walls and shooting hexes at any dawdling trainees, Amelia had to step up her own observation of her underlings. Which had led to a good deal of practice in both scowling and storming. Convenient, as she needed a good deal of both to get through a meeting like this one without going off on someone in an uncontrolled manner (as opposed to the entirely controlled anger she used as a weapon against twinkly-eyed politicians).
When she reached the gargoyle, the head of the DMLE just increased her scowl and tapped her foot a single time. The stone construct flinched out of the way, and she took the rotating stairs two at a time.
The headmaster's office, Amelia noted, was noticeably disheveled. Not that the place was ever truly tidy, but she would expect fewer papers scattered about so soon after the school year ended.
"Ah, Amelia, my girl. Do come…"
"Can it Albus. What do you want." She snapped, halting the movement of the candy dish mid-offer with a single finger and pushing the lemon drops, along with the hand offering them, to the desk.
A long, bereaved sigh was emitted.
"Ah, haste. The proclivity of the young."
Amelia gave a Moody-level snort and thanked the Spirits she'd been trained by the most insufferable man on the planet. Made dealing with all the other asshats pale in comparison.
"Answers, Albus. Now. I have a dragon-smuggling ring to investigate."
Albus leaned back in his chair, twinkle noticeably absent. Huh.
"Well, I suppose this is an act of smuggling I need your help with. Finding the smuggler, rather, although they took something far more important than a few dragons."
"Oh? Someone misplaced all Muggle Britain's candy?"
Dumbledore stoked his beard. "No, no, nothing so benign as that. It is Harry Potter, you see, who has… well..."
Amelia forced every muscle not related to speech to go still. "Harry. Potter. You misplaced Harry Potter."
Albus flinched a bit in his throne-like chair. Actually quailed a bit, then rallied.
"Well, not quite. You see, I had him placed with some relatives on his mother's side."
Oh Lord no. Amelia knew the man was incompetent, but a magical child. One with at least a hundred terrorists after his head. With. Muggles. Who likely wouldn't know how to protect a child from a stunner, let alone AK's.
"I put Arabella Figg in the vicinity to keep an eye out."
So he put a squib on security detail. Mind, they could be rather useful, Amelia had several squibs in the department's employ. Not as versatile as wizards, but put them with a wizard partner for cases that crossed worlds and you could make a crack team. But one squib. An old one. With no backup. On a security detail.
That was it. Next election for chief warlock, she'd vote for almost anyone else. She was close to Edward Abbott, and wondered if his father would be willing to run again…
"But it seems she rather lost track of the boy."
Oh yes, put all the blame on the squib. Not on the idiot sorcerer who thought that was sufficient protection, no. Albus Dumbledore doesn't make mistakes.
He was apparently waiting for a response as he chewed on one of those sour lemon things.
"Where." She demanded curtly
The sorcerer raised an eyebrow.
"Pardon?"
"Where. Are. The. Relatives. Living."
"Ah, well, you see, the protections I placed and assurances I gave them…"
"Albus. Address. Or I bring you up on obstruction charges."
The damn twinkle was back.
"Now, Miss Bones, do you really think…"
"I think you lost the wizarding world's savior. I think I need to start an investigation. I think that I need all the information to do that. Now. Where was he seen last? By whom? Where was he living? Who knew of his placement? What security was in place? Details, Albus. Now."
--
Two days later, Amelia Bones took a long swig from the bottle of firewiskey in her office and waited for it to take care of the pounding headache as she stared at the reports in front of her. Nothing. They had nothing.
It didn't help that the trail was months cold. Or that they found evidence of abuse, between the cupboard and the school nurse's records and the teacher's interviews. Hell, Bones doubted anyone took the lad at this point. Such insufferable people as caregivers. Who'd want to stay.
With none of the leads heading anywhere, and the entire department in a tizzy, word that Potter was missing would get out. Amelia already had PR and legal working on covering the department's asses. Honestly, how were they supposed to know anything about the boy with his safety put in Dumbledore's hands? It was one of Crouch's last acts as DMLE head, and therefore ignored in favor of her predecessor's disgrace.
The door creaked open, and Amelia quickly disillusioned the bottle. Drinking on the job was the one hypocrisy she allowed herself, and she refused to get caught.
"Bones." Alastor grunted as he took the chair across the desk, magical eye scanning the room and wand counting out spells.
"Moody. Now you show up to work." She grunted right back.
Alastor's eyes flickered with… something, Amelia couldn't tell what.
"Aye. About that. I hear rumor the Potter boy disappeared."
Amelia crinkled her own eyes. That was far to casual.
"You know something."
"I know a lot of things. Be a bit more specific."
"You know something about the Potter case."
Moody smiled his proud mentor's grin. "What gave it away?"
"You sat down. If you didn't have anything you'd stand."
Alastor nodded. "And I've been asking you how you could tell when I was hiding something for years. You actually answered. You're worried."
"Worried." Amelia snorted, before reaching for the disillusioned bottle and swigging. She offered it to Moody, who shook his head but pulled from his own flask. "Worried. A boy is missing, has been for months, nobody reported… tell me whatever you have is good, Mad-eye. It'll be my job if it isn't."
Alastor nodded along.
"Aye. Question for ya. Who do ya think took him?"
Bones scowled. Moody wouldn't answer a question with a question unless he knew the answer. "I doubt it was anyone of ill intent. No curse traces at the house, no reports of strange people around that time. None that we can confirm anyways. And the wards Dumbledore placed are very specific. The only way the boy could have left was of his own will."
Mad-eye started a bit at that. "Really. Impressive. Glad I didn't just levitate the lad out." he muttered under his breath, but continued before Amelia was even done processing the statement. "So, he left of his own will. Anyone check if he was alone when that happened?"
"Yes, but it was so long ago…"
Wait. Levitated him out.
Amelia unholstered her wand under her desk and lined it up with the invisible hole that would allow her to curse someone sitting across from her. It was unlikely Mad-eye wouldn't notice, but there was always a chance he wouldn't look.
"Alastor. Explain. Now."
The old geezer actually grinned at her.
"There ya go. Figured it out, did ja? I found the boy… a little over a year ago now. Being abused something awful by those damn muggles. But something smelled fishy. He wasn't registered as placed by Magical Children's Services. Dumbledore wouldn't give any intel on the lad. Said he was well cared for when I asked. Low and behold, he even had a watcher on the street. And yet, Albus did nothing.
"I figured there were some pretty intense protections on the property. But… well. A child doesn't just need physical safety to grow up well. I wasn't about to leave the lad there like Albus did. So I asked the lad if he wanted to leave, and he said yes. Walked right out the door besides me, been living at my place in protective custody ever since."
Amelia put her head on the desk. Hard. Several times.
"Alastor, you can't just kidnap a child, let alone Harry Potter…"
"Article fifty-five of the Wartime Allowances Act gave me and any auror of similar experience at the time of it's passing the right to move any person I deem in mortal danger from Death Eaters to protective custody without any approval or paperwork, so long as the person in question agrees. I asked the lad if he felt safe, he didn't. I asked him if he wanted to leave with me, he did. Legally, the lad qualifies."
Amelia glared at her former mentor. "We aren't at war anymore."
Alastor glared right back. "Then why's the lad so important?"
"He's a symbol of hope…"
"And why do we need that?"
"People are still nervous…"
"Oh cut the crap Bones." Moody banged his staff on the floor like a gavel. "You've heard the same rumblings I have. That he's not gone. That he'll come back. If the war was really over, we would have bounced back. The black markets would be back to business as usual, but they aren't. It's like the whole world's been holding it's breath for years.
"I scanned the boy multiple times over the past year, and you know what I found? Traces of his" putting extra emphasis so there could be no doubt what evil bastard he meant, "magic, still active. He's out there Bones. I know it. You know it. Albus knows it. And the kid's some kind of weapon to the old man.
"Well I won't have it. The lad might be a bit shy, but he's a good kid. I haven't put all this effort in just so that Albus can make the lad another piece on the board. No grandson of mine is a pawn. Not to Albus. Not to the ministry. Not to Voldemort. Not while I still breath."
Amelia sheathed her wand and examined Moody. That certainly put the change of behavior in perspective. The constant absence. The refusal of a new trainee. The lower case load, but increased paperwork. And he called the boy his grandson…
Well, she supposed he was, in a way. Moody never stopped looking after his old apprentices, and while she was close enough to his age to be a younger sister, Potter might have been more like a son. And with Potter's own father gone in a raid… Well. There was a reason Crouch put Potter and Black under Moody. He likely hoped one or the other would flop out. But Moody was the one that took Potter from boy to man, Amelia had watched it happen in between the firefights and funerals.
"Alright then. I believe you. But." She held up a finger to stop Moody from continuing. "I want to see him, ensure he's alright."
"Aye."
"I want quarterly reports."
"Aye."
"Dumbledore hears nothing of this."
"Aye."
"I'll tell the public Potter was found and secretly placed with a magical guardian. I'll have that title transferred to you. You still have that foster parent paperwork up to date?"
"Aye. Muggle and Magical."
"Good. And I don't want him holed up in whatever bunker you're staying in. He's a kid, he needs to see the sun. Go out. In the muggle world if you don't trust the magical."
Moody smirked. "I am well known, I'll have you hear, in my local community as an upstanding citizen raising his poor orphaned grandson. Homeschooling him and everything."
Bones grinned cheekily, prior angst forgotten.
"Wow. Never thought I'd see the great Alastor Moody gone soft."
Moody's smile fell. "It ain't soft to have something to protect Bones. If it was, I'd have bothered you to hand little Susan off to someone else. Looking after someone, it makes us stronger it does. We're aurors, it's what we do."
That made… a lot of sense, actually. Moody took more trainees than anyone else, this last year was actually his longest time without one in decades. If he thought taking care of someone made a person stronger…
"Alastor." She stopped him just as he turned the knob. "How much of the gruff paranoid thing is an act?"
The old auror smirked. "What act woman! I'm not paranoid, just practical! If you don't get that, you aren't paying attention! Need to be more VIGILANT!"
And then he swooped out of the room (how the hell did a man with that significant a limp swoop that quickly?), startled several people in the process, and left Amelia to her thoughts.
A peace that lasted for about a nanosecond before Shacklbolt walked in. "Ma'am, I know everyone's up in arms over the Potter case, but I just found out while we were investigating that, those smugglers got over a dozen eggs into Hoggsmede…"
And there was the headache again.