The Final Lesson
by Jardyn39
Chapter 10 - The Golden Rowena
Hermione made the introductions and did so again when Edward arrived a short while later.
He was an almost completely bald man with a round smiling face and had permanently flushed cheeks. He was, Harry judged, almost exactly the same width as the space between the bookcases out in the front of the shop. His wife's name, Harry learned, was Jennifer and they had run the bookshop together for over fifty years.
Harry was pleased, if a little surprised, to find the couple entirely accepting of Muggles inside the magical areas of their bookshop. He guessed that from their selection of books in the rest of the shop that they regularly enjoyed the company of non-magical people.
"We were hoping to look at a couple of items," said Harry a little hesitantly. "The first is that statuette of Rowena Ravenclaw you have in your display window."
"That item isn't for sale, I'm afraid," said Jennifer.
"Oh, but you're welcome to have a closer look," offered Edward, leading them out of the magical area towards the front of the shop.
After first making sure the shop was empty of customers, Edward flicked his wand at the door. The closed sign flipped over and the door locked.
Another flick and the book cases flew up off the ground and stacked themselves unobtrusively up on the ceiling, leaving the entire floor area clear.
The back of the display window folded back and Harry realised that the glass in the window at the front was now entirely opaque so no-one could see in from outside.
The golden bird flew in wide arcs around the open shop area now, relishing its new-found freedom.
Slowly the statuette rotated around to face them.
"We bought this with the proceeds of our first full quarter's takings," said Edward proudly. "I'm afraid we paid an outrageous price for it."
Hermione went over to take a closer look.
"You bought it from Borgin and Burke?" asked Harry.
"Good grief no!" exclaimed Edward. "I wouldn't give those scoundrels a single Knut!"
"I'm sorry," said Harry at once. "It's just that we found this object, or one very similar to it, in one of their ledgers. We wondered if there was more than one."
"Oh, it was this one alright," said Jennifer bitterly. "It had their stock reference etched into it when it was returned."
"The piece was stolen from us some time ago and Borgin and Burke bought it from the thief," explained Edward.
"Ordered it to be stolen, more like," spat Jennifer.
"There's no proof of that, dear," said Edward, and Harry had the impression that he'd needed to say that many times before. "However, they did have the nerve to demand payment from us for its safe return. Fortunately, one of my brothers had some influence with the Ministry and it was returned to us eventually. Mind you, if they hadn't happened across it during one of their raids, we would never have seen it again, I'm sure."
"How long did Borgin and Burke have the item?"
"A few weeks, I suppose," answered Edward. "The Ministry had it for months, though. They managed to lose track of the paperwork too, and we had a devil of a job to get it back. From the way my brother acted when he handed it to us, I suspect he may have just took it from their evidence rooms. How come you even got access to Borgin and Burke's ledgers?"
"Influence with the Ministry, I suppose," said Harry with a grin. "Actually, they were confiscated and we were able to borrow a few of the older ledgers. The Ministry takes ages to complete any investigation, so we should be able to return them before anyone starts to ask any awkward questions. Do you think we could get a closer look at the base?"
"Ah," said Edward knowingly, "you know about the base?"
"Not really," admitted Hermione.
Edward pointed his wand at the statuette. The golden Rowena gathered up her flowing robes and jumped down from the cube that looked like it had been carved from black marble. The polished sides were almost like mirrors and the edges looked sharp enough to cut. It was in immaculate condition.
"Thank you," said Hermione to the small golden figure before reaching down and picking it up.
She turned it over and revealed a matching lid with an inset golden handle. The cube was obviously hollow.
Seeing Ravenclaw's mark on the lid, Harry said, "It's genuine, isn't it?"
"It is," said Jennifer proudly.
"Have you ever seen inside?"
"Oh, yes. It's quite empty."
Harry's heart sank. Empty! They had been wrong.
"We think that possibly Rowena originally used it as a jewellery box. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to open it since we got it back from Borgin and Burke. There's a complicated mechanism inside that they must have broken, the brutes," added Jennifer.
Harry sighed with relief and Hermione returned the heavy cube to the display case.
"That base is not empty," Harry said firmly.
"Nonsense," said Edward, but his smile faltered seeing the serious look on Harry's face.
"I can't tell you everything," said Harry before drawing a deep, calming breath. "Before he died, Albus Dumbledore instructed me to find certain things that had been hidden. One of those things was hidden inside that cube while it was with Borgin and Burke. I bet they lost track of it when the Ministry lost the paperwork."
"Who would want to hide something in there, and why?"
"I can't say why, but I can tell you who. As a young man, he had a job with Borgin and Burke. He took that job because he was looking for objects like this one. His name is Vol-."
Harry did not need to finish. Jennifer and Edward had instinctively clutched each others hands.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Edward shakily.
"To be honest, no, we're not. I think there is a good chance I'm right, but I could be wrong. We have no interest in the base, only what is inside. Is there any way we can persuade you to sell us the base? I'd offer to return it after, but I'm not sure if the base will get broken when we get it open."
Edward looked down into his wife's tearful eyes.
Together they nodded.
"Take it," said Jennifer. "I don't want anything associated with You-Know-Who in our shop."
"Thank you," said Harry. "The thing is, he can't know we have it."
"That's right," agreed Hermione. "It could be very dangerous for you if he even knew we'd taken an interest."
Edward gently freed himself from Jennifer's hands and then went behind the counter for a moment. He returned with an almost identical statuette.
"We bought this copy when we thought the other one was gone forever," he explained. "We'll keep this base and you can take the real one. No-one will know they have been substituted."
He placed the fake base down in the display case and the golden Rowena crossed her arms indignantly, showing her displeasure at the appearance of such an inferior replica.
Edward vanished the strangely still golden statuette standing on the fake base and switched them over. They looked identical.
"What about Borgin and Burke's stock mark?" said Mary.
"Good point!" said Hermione. Edward tipped both bases onto their sides and Hermione then duplicated the mark on the fake base.
Edward picked up the genuine base and handed it to Harry.
"We'd be grateful if you'd take this and return it only when it is clean."
"Thank you," said Harry hoarsely. "Will you accept some money? This thing must be priceless."
"It has no value to us now," said Jennifer.
"Please don't be concerned about us revealing your interest in it. You-Know-Who touched our lives once before. His Death Eaters murdered only our son many years ago. We can't do much to fight him, but if our silence will help then we won't fail you."
Harry nodded and smiled sadly.
Bateman cleared his throat and said, "There is one other matter. The Journal?"
Hermione reached into the display case again and brought out the red felt covered book. She held up the cover for the others to read.
"J. Falcon, Age Nine," read the child's handwriting on the small white label on the front.
Hermione opened the school textbook and began to read aloud from the first page.
"My name is John Falcon and when I grow up I am going to be a soldier like my father and my uncles."
Mary looked over Hermione's shoulder and smiled seeing the crayon drawings of tanks and cannons.
"Look in the back pages," she suggested gently.
Hermione flicked through to the back of the book. Clearly the young Falcon hadn't finished the book. In an adult hand, the last twenty or so sides were filled with small, neat handwriting which extended right onto the inside over.
Mary and Hermione nodded together and looked up.
"This is it," said Mary.
"Do you know him?" asked Jennifer.
"I only met him twice," said Harry.
"He kept insisting that we put it in the other window," explained Edward. "We were rather worried about him, actually. Is he alright?"
"I'm afraid not," said Harry. "He encountered Y- You-Know-Who as well." Harry was so used to saying Voldemort's name, he actually stuttered slightly saying You-Know-Who, but he was determined not to upset Jennifer and Edward any further, especially as they had shown them so much generosity.
They nodded sadly in understanding.
"Edward, dear, let's close the shop early today?"
"Yes, dear. Won't you please join us for dinner? We only live locally."
"That's very thoughtful," said Harry, placing his entire bag of gold in the dish on the counter before either of them could object. "We need to talk over quite a few things, though. You might be at risk if you overheard anything."
The heavy gold bag vanished with a satisfying pop before Edward could grab it.
"You simply must come for dinner," insisted Jennifer. "We have a warm parlour where you can talk in private. You won't be disturbed."
*
Late that evening Harry stepped out of the parlour fireplace having just deposited the Ravenclaw object in the Room of Requirement. He had taken some time to hide it after Hermione had mentioned that she had told Ron their plans to visit the bookshop today, although she hadn't said that they were going in seek of a Horcrux.
He didn't say anything at the time as he didn't wish to spoil the wonderful meal Edward and Jennifer had prepared for them, but Harry was beginning to grow uncomfortable confiding too much with Ron.
Ron's interest in the identity of the Secret Keeper seemed to concern him much more now than it had at the time, although Hermione didn't seem to share the depth of his concerns.
Harry stepped over the outstretched legs of Bateman and sat down beside him. Behind him, Hermione, Mary and Jennifer were deep in conversation at the table. Falcon's book lay between them, quite ignored.
"You took your time," mumbled Bateman sitting up.
"Here, Harry," said Edward handing him a small brandy glass.
"Er, thanks," said Harry accepting the glass and immediately brought it up to his lips to take a cautionary sip.
"No, class," said Bateman at once and Edward chuckled.
Harry brought his hand down at once, fearing that he had committed some dreadful faux pas.
"Brandy, Harry, has to be drunk the right way."
"It does?"
"These glasses are shaped this way for a reason," explained Edward kindly. "The full bouquet is collected so the taste can be appreciated properly."
"And to get the full bouquet," continued Bateman, "the spirit needs to be warmed slightly."
"To be honest," said Edward, "it isn't always worth it for some brandies."
"Except this," said Bateman pointing at his glass, "is a very good brandy."
They both held up their glasses and swirled the dark liquid around. Harry copied them and realised that the warmth of his hand was warming the brandy in the glass.
Harry swirled patiently, wondering when he would be allowed to taste the drink. As he did so, he looked around the fire-lit room. Every inch of wall space was covered in photographs, most of them were of their late son at all ages. They were all Muggle still photographs and Jennifer had explained that they preferred them because it was too much bother to change them all when Muggle friends came around.
The photograph album she had showed Hermione and Mary earlier was entirely magical, though.
Presently, Edward and Bateman seemed to agree that the time was right and nodded to Harry. Together they raised their glasses and slowly breathed in the strong fumes of the alcohol.
Following the others, Harry took his first sip.
With slightly watering eyes and fighting the urge to cough, Harry lowered his glass in time with the others.
"Cigar, John?" asked Edward, opening a fine inlayed case.
"No thanks, Edward," Bateman replied. "I managed to give up years ago when it began to affect my run times. Please don't let us stop you though."
"I'm only allowed when we have guests," confided Edward with a wink at Harry.
Remembering what he'd brought back with him, Harry pulled out the thin manila file and offered it to Bateman who grunted to show his recognition.
"You recognise it?" asked Harry.
"I remember it existed," replied Bateman putting down his glass and opening his report. "This was the last thing I did before my memory was modified. I remember handing it to the Prime Minister and then Shacklebolt made me sit down.
"The next thing I remember is waking up in a cell. Kingsley was waiting for me and he showed me a letter I'd written telling me what had happened. Kingsley checked me over, destroyed the letter and told me I was about to be interrogated. He Disapparated away just before they unlocked the door and dragged me out."
"What did they do?" asked Harry with concern.
"Nothing I couldn't handle. I think that was the problem, really. They knew I'd been trained to resist their questioning if I needed to.
"Anyway, by the time I was checked out of hospital, I'd been reassigned."
"Hospital? What did they do to you?"
"It was nothing. Anyway, I began to make some enquiries about Mary. I was convinced that she had to be the traitor. It took me quite some time to locate her and then a little longer to plan how I was going to catch her. I was still under surveillance, you see? Anyway, I kept my head down and stuck at the tasks I was given. Mostly it was low grade intelligence stuff, but they moved me on to more interesting things once I passed muster."
"I had no idea. I knew that having your memory modified like that was a bad idea."
"No, Harry," said Mary gently, coming to sit down next to Edward. "I'm convinced that John's memory lapse kept us both alive. Both we and the investigating authorities were convinced it was one of us. If he'd been thinking straight, he might have exposed the real traitor."
Hermione tried to squeeze in next to Harry but he steered her onto his lap instead.
"Who's for coffee?" asked Jennifer.
"Yes, please," they all said.
*
A little later four of them remained sitting in front of the warm fire. Jennifer and Edward had retired for the evening and had insisted that they all stay over for the night.
Hermione was curled up beside Harry and opposite them Mary was leaning back against Bateman.
"I should make a start on that Journal," said Mary, not moving.
"It will keep until the morning," said Bateman, taking another sip of brandy.
"Haven't you had enough for one evening?"
"Yes, but it is rather good. Try some?"
"You know I'm teetotal."
"I promise not to tell Jim."
"Who is Jim?" asked Harry.
Mary immediately gave a laughing Bateman a gentle dig with her elbow.
"Jim is a particular friend of mine who lent us his car while we were up here. Took quite a shine to our Mary here, I can tell you."
Mary rolled her eyes and snatched the glass from Bateman's hand. She made to put the glass down but then changed her mind. First taking a cautious sniff, she then took a generous sip.
"Sure, by my guest, why don't you?" asked Bateman indignantly. "You know what? Moving golden statues and impossibly big rooms are one thing but Miss Alice on the sauce may be just too much to cope with."
Harry snorted and received a small dig himself from Hermione.