Chapter 25 - Morning, Noon and Night
It was a subdued Harry Potter that sat in front of the Gryffindor Common Room fireplace staring into the flames at three o'clock on Sunday morning as he played over the events of the previous evening in his mind.
He was still angry with Dumbledore and his grandfather about their deception but this had lessened throughout the evening and was tempered by the fact that he now had a relative who did not think of him as a freak or abomination.
On top of that he also had to admit that Dumbledore had been telling the truth in regard to not lying to Harry about having any living relatives as no matter how hard Harry had racked his brain he could never remember directly asking the Headmaster if he had any living relatives. Oh, they'd come close to the topic a few times but never close enough.
But then Emric had taken everyone with the seeming exception of Dumbledore by announcing his resignation and before Harry could say a word he'd left.
Harry barely remembered anything after that although he had a vague memory of Dumbledore speaking to him and the others before they'd left the Headmaster's Office. He was also pretty certain he could remember Hermione holding his hand as the Marauders had made their way to the Gryffindor Common Room and her telling him to go to bed.
But here he was at three in the morning staring into the fire and trying to come to terms with the fact he had a living Grandfather.
And then slowly the tears began to fall and within a few moments the boy-who-lived was sobbing openly to an empty Common Room.
Except it wasn't quite empty. Certainly there were no humans present but there was a half Kneezle who watched his familiar's 'mate' crying for a moment before turning and shooting up the stairs to the 6th year girls dorm and nudged the door open before padding across the room and jumping onto his familiar's bed.
Here Crookshanks hesitated as he watched her sleep. She wasn't going to be terribly happy about this but he could put with her being grumpy for a few moments. He now padded forward making no attempt not to step on her legs which caused her to grumble sleepily before he reached her face which he began to gently pat with his paw.
"Crooks!" mumbled Hermione sleepily but the Kneezle persisted until Hermione half opened one eye.
"Knock it off will you?" she grumbled to which Crookshanks merely gave a meow and pawed her again.
"Oh for Merlin's sake!" sighed Hermione as she pushed herself up onto one elbow and turned towards her clock before looking at Crookshanks with an annoyed frown on her face.
"Crooks, it's three in the morning!" she muttered irritably. Crookshanks however merely gave another meow before heading back down to the end of the bed where Hermione's dressing gown lay and gently took it in his mouth before tugging towards his familiar whose irritation gave way to curiosity.
"Crooks? What is it?" she asked softly as she leaned forward and took hold of her dressing gown herself.
Crookshanks merely gave another meow then turned and hopped off her bed and padded across the room back towards the door where he stopped and looked back at Hermione and meowed before slipping out the door.
Hermione stared at the door for a moment before giving a sigh and swing her legs out of bed and slipped her feet into her slippers whilst she pulled her dressing gown on before following her familiar out the door.
As she made her way down the stairs after her familiar Hermione suddenly became aware of the sounds of someone crying coming from the bottom of the staircase and almost at once she realised why Crookshanks had woken her and she quickened her pace until she came to the bottom of the stairs and stopped dead as she saw the silhouette of her boyfriend sitting in front of the fire whilst his shoulders shook with sobs causing Hermione's heart to break for him. Just then Crookshanks brushed around her legs causing her to look down at the Kneezle and smile sadly at him.
"Thanks Crooks," she said crouching down and rubbing him between the ears. The Kneezle merely gave her a look as if to say 'You're welcome' before turning and heading back up stairs towards the dorms whilst Hermione turned and looked towards Harry. For a moment she debated what to do before taking a deep breath and moving across the room until she reached the couch where she sat down beside Harry and placed one arm around him whilst resting her head against his shoulder.
Slowly Harry's sobs slowed and then finally stopped completed at which point the couple sat in silence for a few moments before Harry spoke.
"Thanks 'Mione," he whispered hoarsely. "Sorry about this, I don't usually get like this. Uncle Vernon's slipper taught me that!"
"Don't mention it," replied Hermione softly as she handed Harry a tissue whilst making a mental note about how, one day, she was going to pay the Dursleys a visit and give them a piece of her mind as well as a few jinxes and to hell with the consequences!
Silence followed again before Harry spoke again.
"How did you know I was here? You couldn't have heard me upstairs."
"Crookshanks came and got me," replied Hermione at which Harry gave a weak grin.
"Smart cat, takes after his boss in that regard!"
"Thanks, I think," chuckled Hermione as she turned her gaze from the fire to her boyfriend. "You Okay now?"
"Now that you're here," sighed Harry who was still looking into the fire. "Why did he go 'Mione?"
Here Hermione frowned as she considered her answer.
"I suppose he was giving you a choice as to whether you want to get to know him or not," she said with a shrug. It wasn't much of an explanation but it was the only one she could really come up with off the top of her head. She now turned and looked at him. "Do you want to?"
"Well yeah," said Harry with a shrug. "He's my Granddad, beside from what Dumbledore said it sounded like he didn't really give him much choice did he?"
"No, not really," agreed Hermione as she considered how the Headmaster had manipulated the situation. "I still don't get why Dumbledore did that."
"It like he always says," said Harry slowly, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "About choosing what is easy and what it right. It would have been easy for Granddad to come and get me but he couldn't have protected me, especially if he was ill and so he took the right option and left me there with the Dursleys even though that must have driven him mad."
Hermione nodded slowly at this and felt a little less anger towards the Headmaster whilst Harry gave a sigh.
"Bugger, and I thought this term couldn't get any more complicated!"
Hermione chuckled at this and nudged Harry with her shoulder.
"You're Harry Potter, life's always meant to be complicated for you!"
"Gee, thanks 'Mione," replied Harry, albeit with a broad grin before this was wiped off his face as he yawned loudly.
"Come on," said Hermione as she grabbed a blanket off the back of the sofa. "Scoot over."
"Eh?" came Harry's puzzled reply.
"We'll sleep here tonight," said Hermione as she stood up and shook the blanket open. "We can say we fell asleep talking, wouldn't be the first couple to do that."
Harry smiled and now swung his legs onto the sofa and lay his head back against one of the cushions before Hermione squeezed on beside him resting her head on his chest and pulling the blanket over them as Harry put his arms around her.
Silence once more ensued but just as Hermione was feeling the tug of sleep Harry spoke again.
"'Mione, what did Dumbledore say before we left his Office?"
Hermione tilted her head back so she could look up at Harry who gazed down at her with curiosity.
"Just asked us not to tell anyone except Neville that Gringle had gone until he can tell the School on Monday and not to reveal who he really is although he did add if we choose to ignore him he had no-one to blame but himself."
"Oh," said Harry. "Well, Granddad's been Thaddeus Gringle for over sixteen years, I guess another few months won't hurt."
"No," agreed Hermione softly as sleep slowly claimed the pair. "I guess it won't."
And with that the young couple fell into a comfortable sleep which was only broken when they were woken by a smirking Neville a few hours later as he sat out to help Professor Sprout in the Greenhouse.
***
Later that day and not ever so very far away from Hogwarts a man and a woman walked into the main public lobby of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. The woman was unremarkable with a heart shaped face and shoulder length brown hair. Her companion however did get a few stares as they were very few 6"7' dark skinned Scotsmen about.
The pair paused briefly seemingly unaware of the scrutiny they were receiving before the woman noticed the reception desk at the side of the entrance hall and after nudging her companion the two crossed over to the desk.
"Good Morning," said the receptionist with a warm smile.
"Good Morning," replied the man in a deep calming voice as both he and the woman reached into their pockets and pulled out ID cards. "I'm Detective Inspector Kelvin Summers and this is Detective Sergeant Natasha Tanner from the Metropolitan Police. I was wondering if you could direct us to the Mortuary?"
"Certainly," said the woman rising from her seat and leaning over her desk she pointed to a corridor to her left. "Go right to the end of the corridor until you come to the lift and take that down to the basement then you come back in this direction until you come to a set of double doors. I'll ring down and let them know you're coming but if no-one's there to meet you just ring the bell."
"Thank you," said Summers and with that he and Tanner turned and headed down the corridor whilst the receptionist picked up the phone and dialled the Mortuary to let them know that two London Cops were on their way down to them.
***
Dr. Dougal Murray, the senior pathologist, met the two Police Officers at the door and shook hands with both of them before leading them into the Mortuary.
"So what bring you up to Edinburgh Inspector?"
"Your local boys pulled an unidentified white male out of the Forth the other day," said Summers softly. "Matches the description of someone who we've been looking for."
"Ah, the mystery man," said Murray with a nod. "No ID, dressed in what I can only describe as Victorian prison garb and the biggest mystery of all, no visible sign of death. For all intents and purposes he should be alive and well but obviously he's not!"
"Can you tell how long he was in the water?" asked Summers causing the pathologist to purse his lips.
"Four or five days," he said as he lead the pair over to the lockers where the bodies where stored. "But that's purely speculation." He added turning to look at the labels on the door.
"Now, where are we? Oh yes, here we go!" And with that he yanked a door open allowing cold vapour to escape before reaching in and pulling out a metal tray on which lay a covered body.
"Ready?" said Murray looking up. Summers moved closer but Tanner kept her distance, a slightly uneasy look on her face. Murray however ignored this as he knew from experience that peoples reactions to bodies varied from case to case. Only the other week he'd seen a close friend who was a Detective Chief Superintendent and a veteran of several murder cases going green at the sight of a badly mangled body and even he had the occasional bout of nausea when he was called out to a crime scene.
"Ready," replied Summers and with that Murray pulled back the cover to reveal the body underneath.
"You're man?" asked Murray at which the Policeman looked up and gave him a grim smile.
Here Summers moved towards the tray and lifted up the dead man's left and looked down at the tattoo of a skull with a snake coming out of it's mouth.
"Gruesome thing," muttered Murray. "I won't mind admitting it gave me a severe case of the willies!"
"Yeah, doesn't exactly convey warm fuzzy feelings does it?" agreed Summers as he placed the arm down on the tray again. "But it is our man alright. Goes by the name of Rodolphus LeStrange."
"Really?" said Murray as he picked up a clipboard and pulled a pen out of his lab coat. "Odd name, couldn't give me a next of kin could you?"
"We could," said Summers placing his hands in his jacket pockets. "But I doubt they'd turn up to collect him. We've got warrants out for them too!"
"Oh, a real criminal family I take it?" Here the Inspector snorted.
"Doc, trust me they make the Krays look like humanitarians," This caused Murray to look up and give a low whistle.
"Hell's bells!"
***
A short time later and after arranging for the pick-up of LeStrange's body Summers and a pale faced Tanner stepped out into the grey Scottish autumn morning at which point the Inspector turned to his Sergeant.
"You alright there Tonks?"
Nymphadora Tonks gave a deep sigh and pulled a hand through her hair.
"Yeah, just give me a minute," she muttered as she sat down on a low wall.
"Here," said Kingsley Shacklebolt as he pulled out a hip flask and held it out to Tonks who eyed it for a moment before looking up at her boss who rolled his eyes and gave a throaty laugh.
"You have been hanging around Moody for way to long!"
"Oh shut up!" growled Tonks as she snatched the flask out of her superior and friend's hand and popped the cap before taking a swig which immediately caused her to start choking for a few moment.
"Bloody hell Kingsley! What is this stuff?" she wheezed wiping the back of her hand across her mouth.
"Muggle Whisky," said Shacklebolt with a grin. "My Dad swears by the stuff!"
"He's not the only one!" gagged Tonks. "This is vile!"
"Really? I kinda like it," said Kingsley as he sat down beside Tonks before turning to his friend. "You're sure your Okay?"
"I'm fine boss," chuckled Tonks before turning to Kingsley. "I know he was my Uncle but it wasn't as if we ever saw them! They'd disowned Mum the day she married Dad although she'd pretty much disowned them already except for Sirius of course. As far as I was concerned Rodolphus LeStrange was just a murderous bastard!"
"Hey, if you're looking for an argument you're not getting it from me!" snorted Kingsley as Tonks handed back his flask and he took a swig before replacing the cap and slipping it back into his pocket. "Come on, let's take the car back and go home. We've got a report to make."
"Oh the joy of paperwork on a weekend," grumbled Tonks as the pair stood up.
"Don't worry, I'll give you tomorrow off," replied Kingsley at which Tonks turned and looked at him.
"Really?"
"Well, the morning anyway!"
"Git!"
***
Voldermort stood at the window of what had formerly been the Governor's Quarters and looked out over the North Sea listening to the waves as they crashed on the rocks below whilst the naked intertwined figures of Bellatrix Black and Narcissa Malfoy lay on the bed sleeping.
The Dark Lord now allowed a soft smile to cross his thin lips. Finally he was ready to make his move, finally in a position to move against those who stood against him.
Especially Dumbledore and that irritable Potter boy.
Voldermort now turned from the window as there was a soft knock at the door.
"Come in Wormtail," he said softly. A moment later the door opened and Peter Pettigrew sulked in and immediately cast his eyes to the ground at the sight in front of him.
"Ma…master, they are here," he croaked as he shuffled on the spot.
"Ah, excellent," said Voldermort. "Cloth me Wormtail."
Here the smaller man scurried over to him gathering some robes off a chair as he passed by and then held them open to allow Voldermort to slip them on.
"Stay outside Wormtail," he said as he turned to leave. "If my ladies have any desires see to them!"
"Yes Master," squeaked Pettigrew as he followed Voldermort out of the room and then sat down on the step outside the door whilst Voldermort made his way down the stairs that lead to what had until a few days earlier been the dining hall from when the Aurors had been stationed and where now Antonin Dolohov and three hooded figures stood waiting nervously.
"Good evening my friends," said Voldermort as he stepped out of the shadows causing all four to jump before they fell to their knees in front of him.
"We live to serve," they chanted as one causing Voldermort to smile coldly.
"Indeed you do," he whispered softly. "Dolohov, leave us!"
Dolohov bowed his head again and hurried out the door at the far end of the room leaving Voldermort with the hooded trio.
"My friends, it is time for us to make our move, to show those who oppose us that they shall be crushed unless they bow before us."
Here he now moved over to the fireplace and looked into the flames.
"I have selected you three for this task as none of you carry the mark and so can move freely amongst our enemies."
"We are prepared for any mission you require of us Master," said the largest of the figures.
"Excellent," said Voldermort and he now gave a wave of his hand causing three envelopes to appear in midair which Voldermort plucked out of the air and moved back over to his supporters.
"These are three who I wish to be eliminated," he said softly as he handed an envelope to each of the figures. "Your tasks are to be carried out on Halloween whilst those who oppose us will be celebrating."
"Yes Sire," proclaimed all three at which Voldermort smiled coldly.
"Very good," he said softly. "Now leave."
The three figures all rose to their feet and headed out the door that Dolohov had left through before Voldermort turned towards a smaller door on the right of the room and waved his hand at it causing the lock to click before the doorway opened and Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy entered the room and made their way quickly across the room until they reached their master at which pointed they both dropped to one knee and bowing their heads. Voldermort scrutinised the pair for a moment before turning to Snape.
"Severus, when in the next Quidditch match at Hogwarts?"
Authors Note.
This is by no means my finest episode but I felt there were a few loose threads that needed to be wrapped up as well as opening a new part of the story.
But for now ta-ta