Bring the Rain
by Jardyn39
Chapter 5: No Graffiti?
"Stolen?" the robed figure asked at last.
"Yes, your Eminence."
"Impossible!"
"Improbable, perhaps, your Eminence, but not impossible."
"Really? When was the last time Gringotts successfully broken into?"
"I do not know, my Lord. His Eminence will remember the items were not held at Gringotts, though."
"Not at Gringotts? Why ever not?"
"Forgive me for being so rude, but your Eminence will remember that he has not walked among the living for some time. Ragnok would have been able to legally open your deposit vault."
"Alright, Grublok, point taken."
The goblin sighed with relief.
"So where was the item deposited?"
"In a Muggle bank, owned by private goblin financiers but administered by Muggles."
The robed figure visibly sank in his throne. Grublok glanced sideways to the door and wondered if it was too late to make a run for it.
"A Muggle bank?" he asked incredulously.
"A very profitable Muggle bank, your Eminence, and until a few days ago one with an impressive record."
"If it is a Muggle bank, there must be Muggle investigators. What have they found?"
"The police investigation hasn't got very far. They were pursuing someone a few days ago but he has been removed from their investigations."
"He was eliminated?"
"No, my Lord, he was removed. He's only a schoolboy."
"If he wasn't eliminated-"
"Actually, I do believe he would have been eliminated from their enquiries, anyway."
"Grublok, in your haste to interrupt me, you have misunderstood me."
"A thousand apologies, your Eminence!" grovelled the goblin, bowing again.
"What I was going to say," continued the robed figure dangerously, "was, if he wasn't eliminated, then I want him eliminated. Kill him."
"But, my Lord. We've spoken about this before," pleaded Grublok.
"It's alright. You don't need to advertise the fact that I ordered him killed."
"No, your Eminence! We've discussed Harry Potter before. We agreed that it would be prudent to allow him to live for the present. After all, he was the one who almost vanquished Voldemort before. It does seem likely he may yet eliminate Voldemort, when no one else appears to have the remotest chance."
"Yes, yes," his Eminence agreed sounding quite weary. "But what on earth has Potter to do with the theft of my-"
Grublok waited for the penny to drop.
"Are you seriously telling me that Harry Potter robbed my bank?"
"Well, we don't know that. He was just sought in connection with their enquiries."
"I've changed my mind, Grublok."
"His Eminence is wise," said the goblin, bowing low.
"I want him tortured first, then killed."
Grublok groaned inwardly. It was going to be another long night.
*
Harry realised that there was actually another polythene bag inside the police evidence bag. He pulled it out and found it was made from an unusually heavy plastic that was yellowing.
He opened the second unsealed bag and tipped out the contents.
A torn newspaper cutting caught his eye. He picked it up. It was the corner of a piece of newspaper, and the date was clearly visible. It was a few days after his birthday.
"Oh, how sweet," gushed Mrs Granger looking across at the fragment in Harry's hand.
"You know what this is without seeing it close up?"
"Harry, look at the text," advised Hammond with a smile. "It is less popular these days, but at one time it was traditional to announce a birth in the Times newspaper."
Sure enough, Harry found an entry that read, "POTTER, HARRY JAMES. To James and Lily, a son, born 31st July."
Harry shook his head.
"This can't be right, though," he said passing the cutting around. "My parents knew Voldemort would be after me before I was born. There is no way they would announce my birth like this."
"Even in a Muggle newspaper?"
"Actually, your parents might not have approved of this. Someone else could have done it, perhaps maliciously or perhaps out of ignorance."
Hermione was examining the entry carefully.
"What's this symbol at the end of the entry?" she asked, handing the cutting to her father.
"I thought that was just a printer's mark," Mr Granger said. "We have a magnifying glass somewhere but it's probably in storage," he added with frustration.
"Here," said Hammond handing him a large circular magnifying glass from his pocket.
"Thanks Sherlock," Mr Granger said with a smirk before looking closely at the paper as his wife brought over an electric table lamp so they could see better by.
"It could be a symbol, I suppose, and none of the other entries have it. The print quality isn't great, though."
"Didn't you say that such announcements were placed in the London Times?" said Harry. "This wasn't placed in the Times, though, was it?"
"Well, no. But most local papers carry announcements like this."
"Where did your parents live, Harry?"
"I don't know," Harry admitted, feeling a little ashamed.
"Dumbledore told me it was a place called Godric's Hollow," said Hammond. "I looked but I couldn't find it on the road atlas I have. It's probably a small village."
"The library would have information about the newspaper catchment area," said Hermione brightly.
"I doubt it, dear," said Mr Granger. "It's only a mobile one."
"Actually, I was thinking about the one in the town."
"Oh, I see. Yes that one probably would."
"We can go tomorrow!" said Mrs Granger enthusiastically.
"Only if you absolutely promise not to buy any more paint," said Mrs Granger dryly. "What else have you got there, Harry?"
Harry reached down and turned over the item upon which was printed his name. It was a buff coloured card, folded once.
The inside of the card contained a printed table of small rectangles, all completely blank. The outside bore black printed text saying, "Name, Place of Birth, Date of Birth." His name was the only entry completed.
"I'm sure this was written with a quill," observed Hermione. "Notice how the width of the strokes varies with pressure."
"But what is it?" asked Harry.
"I've no idea. Some kind of savings club?"
"No, dear," said Mrs Granger warmly. "You had one just like it."
"Really?" asked Hermione incredulously.
"Oh, yes. It's an appointment card, I'm sure of it. Most of them have the name of the person to whom the appointment is to be kept with, though."
"Who would that be?"
"Possibly a doctor or a nurse," she suggested. "Actually, I would bet it was for a midwife, as it has Place of Birth."
"We used to have something like this in the first hospital I worked for," observed Mr Granger. "It was an NHS hospital and just about every piece of stationery was like this, except I'm sure we had the Hospital name printed on the front. Nowadays we just use business cards that have the appointments written on the other side."
"I wonder why it's blank."
"Maybe it isn't!" said Hermione. "Perhaps the appointments were erased or concealed. If only we were allowed to use our wands!" she finished with frustration.
Harry picked up the third item which was a colour photograph of a group of smiling young women sitting with some very young children at their feet.
He quickly scanned the faces of the women but shook his head. There was no one he recognised.
Harry was about to pass the photograph on when Hammond said quietly, "Look closer, Harry. Look at the children."
He looked again, but didn't see anything remarkable. He guessed that two of the children were siblings. One was just a baby with no significant features, and the other-.
"No!" cried Harry.
"I think it is," said Hammond with a smile.
The Grangers lent in closer to see. The fourth child was pictured crawling towards the camera. He had unruly jet black hair.
"You looked so cute!" said Mrs Granger.
"But, it can't be me," protested Harry. "My Mum wasn't there."
"Perhaps she took the photograph," observed Hermione with a smile.
"That was my assumption, certainly," agreed Hammond. "The others could well be family on your mother's side, Harry, but I think it much more likely that these were her friends."
"But this is a Muggle photograph."
"Perhaps these are friends she made before going to Hogwarts."
"Or perhaps these are members of a mother and baby group. I used to take Hermione to one every week, just for a coffee and a chat. We still exchange Christmas cards."
Harry sighed deeply.
"Why would someone have kept these things?"
"Well," said Hammond, "there are two obvious reasons that I can think of. Firstly, these could be of sentimental value. Perhaps someone knew you as a baby and wanted some keepsake."
"It's true, Harry," said Mrs Granger smiling. "I've kept all sorts of rubbish from when Hermione was a child."
"Except that whenever I suggest we might throw some of it out, they suddenly become the most precious things we own!" added Mr Granger.
Harry smiled and looked back at Hammond.
"Secondly," Hammond began but hesitated before continuing. "Well, you were something of a celebrity as a child, weren't you? Perhaps someone took these as an investment opportunity, hoping that one day their value would increase."
Harry blushed slightly.
"Either way," said Hermione, "the person who took these originally was very close to Harry's family or acquired them from someone who was."
"I think it was the former," said Hammond. "These are too insignificant to pay for. I'll bet there are far more attractive Potter investments on the wizarding black market."
"Peter, why on earth did the police go hunting for Harry on the strength of these items?" asked Mr Granger shrewdly.
Harry looked up at Hammond, who was wearing a rather serious expression.
"Well, they were desperate to be seen to be doing something, I suspect."
"Was that all?"
"Not entirely, no."
Hammond reached into his briefcase and pulled out a small cardboard box file.
"This," said Hammond, patting the box gently, "was logged in as evidence. Kingsley and Arthur found it, fortunately, because I didn't know anything about it. There was no mention of this being recovered amongst the debris like those few items were. I think this was planted."
Hammond lifted open the hinged top and pushed the open box towards Harry.
"Oh, Harry," said Hermione seriously.
Harry looked into the box and couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud.
"Harry, this is serious. It was found at the scene of a crime."
Harry reached into the box and lifted out the Slinkhard book.
"I meant to throw this out at the beginning of the year, except I couldn't find it."
"When did you realise it was missing?"
"Not until September. I waited until I was back at school so I could use magic to destroy it properly."
"Harry, destroying books is not a good thing," chided Mrs Granger.
"Actually, Mum, it is a rubbish book."
"Harry, you're missing the point," said Hammond. "Someone took that book from you, didn't they?"
"I suppose they must have," agreed Harry, opening the book.
On the inside of the front cover Harry had written his name.
"Harry, how come you haven't written graffiti all over it, like you do with all your other text books?" asked Hermione looking at the otherwise unmarked pages.
"Well, I didn't like this one much. I suppose-" he said before stopping abruptly. "What's this?"
Harry had flicked through the pages and discovered the centre pages of the book cut out as if to carry a concealed object.
"You didn't cut those pages?" asked Hammond.
"No."
"Do you recognise the outline? Could you guess what the object was?"
Harry stared at the outline. Whatever it was it was circular, for the most part, and about two inches across. He shook his head.
"Take a look at the back pages," suggested Hammond.
Harry did so and was astonished to find sketches and writing at the back of the book.
"What's this?" he asked.
"That," answered Hammond, "is a remarkably accurate plan of the bank vault. There are also schedules of guard changes, vault use frequencies and that," he said pointing at the page Harry had opened, "is a circuit diagram of the security system."
"But," said Harry lamely.
There was a small pop from the hallway followed by, "Hello?"
Mr Granger got up and went back through the kitchen to investigate. He was soon back followed by Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"I do apologise for Apparating directly into your home, but I didn't want to risk being seen," he explained in his deep voice.
"That's quite alright," said Mrs Granger smiling.
"Ah, I see you're examining our evidence."
Harry suddenly had a sinking feeling. Had Kingsley come to arrest him?
"Harry," said Hermione who was still examining the book, "this looks like your handwriting."
Harry felt this was an unnecessary observation to voice, particularly in front of an Auror that may have come to detain him.
"I didn't write any of that stuff," he retorted. "I have no idea what those circuit symbol things are."
"It is rather incriminating, though," said Hammond.
"I had nothing to do with any robbery," Harry said, a little louder than was necessary. "I was at school the whole time."
"The robbery took place some time between midnight on Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday."
"I had Quidditch practice that evening."
"Yes, that ended at around eight in the evening," said Kingsley. "No one recalls seeing you after."
"I stayed out for a while," said Harry, bristling that Kingsley had clearly checked up on him. "I just felt like flying. I had some things on my mind, that's all."
Harry looked over to Hermione who was frowning slightly.
"I didn't see you at all after dinner that evening," she said quietly.
"I didn't go anywhere," he said with a hint of desperation. Hermione just had to believe him.
"Of course you didn't," she agreed immediately. "I was just thinking how tired I thought you looked the following day, that's all. I remarked on how you looked, remember."
"Yes, Hermione," he agreed, closing his eyes, "you did."
The living room clock chimed from within its packing case. It was eight o'clock. Time to check in with Dumbledore.
Dumbledore!
Harry suddenly started, jumping to his feet and pointing his wand at an astonished looking Kingsley.
"Harry, it's okay," Hammond said reassuringly. "We're not going to arrest you."
"It's not okay!" shouted Harry, fumbling with his shirt pocket and tugging on a short heavy chain.
Harry withdrew his Hunter watch, a gift to him from Hammond from when they first met.
"This watch has an anti Apparition charm. How did you Apparate so close?" he demanded.
"Harry, even Fudge was able to Apparate to within a few feet of the watch, wasn't he?" said Hammond gently.
"That was before Dumbledore enhanced it for me," said Harry.
Hammond suddenly blanched and Hermione jumped up next to Harry, brandishing her own wand at Kingsley. Mr and Mrs Granger looked on incredulously.
Kingsley slowly raised his empty hands and said carefully, "Harry, I'm not going to defend myself in any way. Take my wand if you wish."
Harry nodded and Hermione dashed forward to remove it from his pocket.
Harry relaxed a little when Hermione was back a safe distance away.
"I Apparated quite normally," said Kingsley earnestly. "I did know about that watch, but to be honest I forgot all about it. I didn't feel anything at all."
Harry reached into his shirt pocket with his spare hand and, without taking his eyes off Shacklebolt, said, "Dumbledore?"
"Yes, Harry," replied a familiar voice from directly behind them.
Harry and Hermione spun around. He was so surprised he almost dropped his mirror.
"My apologies," said Dumbledore with a small bow. "I didn't mean to surprise you."
"I didn't sense you that time, Sir," gasped Harry.
"I've been practicing since the summer."
Harry immediately turned back and asked seriously, "Is this Kingsley Shacklebolt, Sir?"
As Harry fought to control his breathing, Dumbledore considered his answer.
"He is," he said simply.
"But my watch," said Harry.
"Certainly, the watch I'm less certain of."
"What?"
*
A few minutes later, they were all sat around the dining table with fresh drinks. Dumbledore had kindly increased the size of the table as well as providing a few more chairs and Harry had apologised to Kingsley who had, in turn, congratulated him on being so cautious.
Dumbledore was examining Hammond's old Hunter watch with interest and Harry was looking on with concern.
He had become very attached to the pocket watch, not because of its value, which was considerable, but because it was a gift from Hammond, one intended to protect him.
"No," said Dumbledore eventually, "I was mistaken."
He looked up and explained.
"At first I believed that the charms placed upon the watch had failed. In order to increase the anti Apparition range we removed the original charm and replaced it with a new one. Sometimes this can produce unstable effects when the original charms are so old."
He held the watch up by its chain and handed it to Hammond.
"I'm afraid, this isn't entirely your watch. It is a partial duplicate."
"It looks identical," said Hammond, opening the golden outer case to observe the inside.
"I believe the watch is the same, but the chain and sovereign are different. Those were the components we charmed to act as the anti-Apparition device. If you look closely, you will see that the sovereign is actually a genuine replacement for the original fake coin. The chain looks very similar though."
Hermione opened the book again and pushed it towards Hammond who nodded and neatly dropped the watch into the concealed opening. It fitted perfectly, except there was a space remaining for something else to be concealed with the watch.
"What does all this mean?" asked Harry.
"It means we need to take a fresh look at all this," said Hammond. "The good news is that, although you didn't need proof of your innocence, Harry, this book and watch together pretty much puts you in the clear."
"It does?"
"Of course it does, Harry," said Hermione, as if this was obvious.
"I do wish I had a marker board," Hammond mused as he gathered his thoughts.
"Draw on the walls," suggested Mr Granger. "We're going to paint them anyway," he added in response to his wife's frown.
"May I?" asked Kingsley to Hermione's parents.
They nodded at once and with a wide swish of his wand, Kingsley produced a row of three large white marker boards, each complete with an assortment of pens and erasers. He had clearly been paying attention to the boards in the evidence rooms.
"Thanks! That's excellent!" said Hammond getting up as the others made themselves comfortable again.
"Right, Harry's watch was clearly transported in his text book. The book was last seen in Harry's possession in June?"
Harry shrugged but nodded.
"So, Harry do you think you brought the book home with you, or did it go missing before then?"
"I honestly don't know."
"I gave you the watch in the summer and we know the complete watch was taken back to school because Professor Dumbledore charmed the genuine article. Um," paused Hammond, "when was it enhanced?"
"I believe it was the second week of term," answered Dumbledore, who had been sitting quietly and enjoying watching Hammond at work.
"Good, that fits. Now, Harry, you wouldn't have needed the watch while you were at school. Did you wear the watch at all?"
"Um, no," admitted Harry, "although I did take it out to clean it occasionally."
"Who knew you had the watch?"
"I didn't keep it a secret. I quite often cleaned it down in the common room, actually."
"Did anyone take a particular interest?"
"No, not really. Neville remarked that his Uncle still preferred a pocket watch and a First Year told me all about her Grandfather having a Hunter just like it."
"She seemed knowledgeable about the watch?"
"Well, she certainly knew more than me. I got the impression it was a family heirloom."
"What was her name, Harry?"
"I'm sure she had nothing to do with it," said Harry resolutely. "She said her name was Julie. Julie Graham."
Hermione frowned and asked, "Harry, are you sure? I don't remember Julie Graham, but I know all of the First Years."
Harry glanced over to Dumbledore who was looking suddenly very grave.
"I suppose I could have got her name wrong. She had dark hair with a single plat, like Parvati. She had really striking blue eyes."
"Harry," said Dumbledore gently, "Julie Graham is not a First Year, but a girl of that name did once attend Hogwarts. She was in the same year as your mother and father. You described her perfectly."
Mrs Granger grabbed the photograph they'd examined earlier and asked, "Harry, could this be her?"
Harry looked closely at the young woman sitting and smiling in the photograph.
"Well, I suppose it's possible," he agreed before handing the photo to Dumbledore.
"She is older here than the last time I saw her," Dumbledore admitted. "She left school early, I recall."
Hammond cleared his throat, having added her name to his board together with a few more arrows.
"Let's assume she had some motive to try to get the watch. Perhaps she took the watch from Harry's dormitory and took the opportunity to take the book as well. From the way that book is cut, it looks like she intended to take the entire thing. Perhaps she became afraid you would miss it and decided to only take that part she needed."
"But, how did she even know I had it?"
"That, I can't answer."
"Perhaps I can," said Dumbledore. "The watch casing has been charmed to act as a beacon. The Order has known everywhere Harry has been while he wore it."
Harry just rolled his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Harry," said Dumbledore, "but perhaps she used the same method to trace the watch."
"So, she discovered the tracer and realised she couldn't take the watch without advertising where she and the watch had disappeared to."
"Isn't transfiguring precious metals very difficult, though, Professor?" asked Hermione.
"It is," agreed Dumbledore. "She clearly has become considerably more skilful since she left school."
"Or had additional help," added Hammond. "Is she known to the Ministry?"
"No, not that I'm aware of," replied Kingsley. "I'll check, though."
"She attended school using her mother's maiden name. Her father's name was Edenhardt," advised Dumbledore.
"Now, that's a name I haven't heard in a while," admitted Kingsley gently.
"Is there something in particular about the name Edenhardt we should know?" asked Hammond.
"Edenhardt is a rather notorious family name, mainly due to the activities of one of their number," said Kingsley. "He's long dead, though."
"He was Julie's grandfather," added Dumbledore. "Nobody knows what his motives were, but he had quite a reputation for murder and torture. I don't believe he was ever linked with other types of crime though."
"How sure are we, that he's dead?" asked Hammond, voicing Harry's thought to himself.
"I'll pull the files," promised Kingsley. "All that was years ago, though. Way before my time."
"Good," said Hammond, "that might reveal the motive for this Julie to want Harry's watch chain. Now, is there anything you can tell us about the chain and that fake coin? I thought it was just a heavy gold chain. I didn't notice at all that the sovereign was faked."
"It was rather subtle, but the usual gold sovereign depicts George and the dragon. Harry's coin showed St. George but I didn't think it was a dragon he was fighting."
Harry frowned, trying to remember the coin. He shook his head in frustration.
"What about the other face?" asked Hermione. "What was the date of the coin?"
"I just can't remember," he admitted. "It's stupid. I spent ages cleaning it but I hardly took any notice."
The living room clock chimed once again. It was now late into the evening and Harry rubbed his eyes with tiredness.
"I suggest we call it a day and reconvene tomorrow evening," suggested Hammond. "I want to check those Ministry records. Kingsley, is there any way I can take a copy of these white board notes?"
"You can keep the boards," said Kingsley with a smile and with a wave of his wand the three boards and stands were shrunk down to pocket size.
They all bid each other goodnight and soon Harry and the Grangers were left alone again.
"You know? I never really believed Hermione when she said things keep happening to you like this," said Mr Granger with a grin.
Harry snorted and smiled despite his growing feeling of unease.