The Final Lesson
by Jardyn39
Chapter 19 - A Park View
The Portkey landed them in the middle of a playing field that was only about two hundred yards from the train station. Fortunately the ground was soft and the spot they arrived at was in near total darkness.
"Promise me you'll practise doing that thing some more," said Bateman, extending his hand to pull Mary to her feet.
"John, stop complaining," she chided him at once. "I'm sure Harry has far better things to practise. Besides, he's improved enormously from the first time."
"That's good to hear," said a disembodied voice.
Harry and Hermione instantly withdrew their wands.
"Alright, don't get excited. It's only me."
"Kingsley?"
"See those bushes over there? Go in there and climb through the rope hoop hanging from the tree. It's even darker over there, so watch your step."
Harry led the way and with some difficulty due to the darkness, scrambled through the bushes. In the centre there was a tree with a length of thick rope hanging from it. On the end was a large tied loop.
Harry held it up for Hermione. She stepped through and then vanished. Mary followed her and then Bateman went next.
Harry looked around one last time before going through himself.
"Tsk, tsk," said a smiling Kingsley as he emerged from his invisibility cloak. "Using an unauthorised Portkey, eh?"
Harry smiled back guiltily and Kingsley laughed.
"Come on up," he said. "Just stand with me on this carpet."
"Is that a flying carpet?" asked Hermione interestedly.
"Yes, but Arthur says it's legal to fly it indoors."
As the five of them rose up, Harry felt a little unstable on the undulating carpet. The rope hoop had allowed them to enter what looked like a narrow canvas shaft. The carpet continued upwards several feet until they emerged into the middle of a large open tent.
"Like my tree house?" asked Kingsley. "Come and look at the view."
He led them outside onto a wide carpet covered balcony.
"We have to stay behind the lace netting to remain invisible," he said, "but even so, the view isn't bad from here."
Harry looked back. Kingsley's tree house looked like a tent that had been impossibly pitched several feet above the treetops.
"Dare I ask what you were up to this afternoon?"
"We were searching an address we found in Colonel Falcon's Journal," said Mary, following Kingsley back into the warm.
"I see. Is that the only reason you came to this area?"
"Yes, why?" asked Harry.
"Well, this is actually one of our surveillance posts. We've been keeping an eye on activity around a property overlooking the park. When you arrived earlier, the Aurors on duty reported your presence and I thought I'd take an interest."
"What property are you watching?"
"Not the one you visited," replied Kingsley with a smile. "Did you find anything of interest?"
"Just a photograph," said Bateman, reaching into his pocket.
"May I ask, did the Journal reveal anything else?"
"No," relied Bateman. "Just the address that Mary found. I took your memory restorative, but it hasn't helped much."
"When did you take it?"
"Yesterday."
"We were a little worried about his reaction, actually," said Hermione. "John had a rough night but he was more confused this morning, if anything. He also complained of severe headaches."
"I'm fine," said Bateman.
"Sit down a moment, will you John?" asked Kingsley, conjuring a simple wooden stool for him to sit on.
Bateman sat down and Kingsley bent down to look intently into his eyes.
"I'm going to shine a light into your eyes now," said Kingsley, raising his wand. "Don't be alarmed. I'm not going to perform any magic on you."
The wand tip shone brightly as Kingsley examined each of Bateman's eyes in turn.
Finally, he stood up and said, "I don't think it's anything to be worried about, but you have had a reaction. I'm not sure, but I would guess that you have a slight allergy to one of the constituents of the fragrance."
"I don't suffer from any allergies."
"Well, I doubt if that is entirely true. Everyone has an immune system that reacts to their environment. You probably ignore or don't usually notice the symptoms, that's all."
"Good," said Harry. "At least this means you can both come back with us, now."
Kingsley frowned and Mary explained, "We had planned to part this evening. For the last few days we've been staying with Harry and his family."
She turned to Harry and said gently, "I'm sorry, but nothing has changed. I'm not going back."
"Nice try," quipped Bateman giving him a wink.
Harry sighed as Kingsley asked, "May I see the photograph you found?"
"Scrimgeour introduced me to him as Absco Tardov, although that's not his real name. He's a spy working for the Ministry of Magic. I didn't find out what his actual role is," Harry admitted. "We didn't exactly get on."
"How did Falcon know about him?" asked Bateman. "Who is he really working for?"
"I've never seen him at the Ministry," said Kingsley.
"He quite likes staying under his invisibility cloak, actually," said Harry.
Kingsley handed the photograph on to Mary.
"Good grief," exclaimed Mary, who hadn't seen the photograph before then. "I know him too!"
"How?"
"He's an IT technician. He worked in support services about two levels above us back at the London bunker.
"He was hopeless. He knew practically nothing about the computers he was employed to maintain. I gave instructions to exclude him after I found out he was asking questions.
"After that, he had the nerve to apply to work directly for us. I assumed Falcon had put him up to it and didn't even give him an interview."
"Okay," said Harry, "so now we know who the traitor is. Tardov was obviously passing information to the Ministry of Magic. Falcon must have found something out."
"Yes," agreed Mary slowly. "The Journal confirms that Falcon became suspicious when he saw an unidentified male enter a room with only one exit. Falcon followed but discovered he'd vanished."
"What?" exclaimed Hermione.
"I thought you said the Journal didn't contain anything but the address?" added Harry.
"I may have been a little economical with the truth," admitted Mary sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but until Kingsley explained John's reaction I didn't feel comfortable divulging everything I knew."
"But," began Harry indignantly, but Bateman cut across him.
"It was the right thing to do," he said firmly, putting an end to the argument before it began.
"Well, if he could Apparate around the bunker, there probably wasn't much information he couldn't gain access to, despite all the security," continued Hermione.
"True."
"How confident are we that Tardov was only working for the Ministry of Magic?"
"Just a moment," interrupted Hermione. "If Falcon suspected Tardov was a wizard, would he really describe him as a traitor?"
"Ah, yes, I'm afraid that is true," said Mary. "The Journal only describes the person we think we've identified as Tardov as a suspect. The Journal speculates upon there being a Traitor, but Falcon could indeed have meant someone else."
"Did Falcon identify any other suspects in his Journal?"
"Yes. I was right at the top of his shortlist, and John was second."
"Only second?"
"Don't worry," said Mary with a smile. "He probably only put you there to annoy you."
"Any more?"
"Yes, but the Journal isn't clear. The number three spot was left clear and Corporal Duke was fourth followed by the rest of John's team."
"Who could Number Three be?"
"Could it be me?" speculated Kingsley.
"No, you never met Falcon and you always exited using the private lifts. There are no logs of your comings and goings and there are no security cameras either."
"He couldn't have meant the Prime Minister, could he?"
"I wondered about that, but Falcon could have no idea he was even involved to the degree he was. Besides, the PM actually knew very little to betray anyway. He had no specifics of the operations. I assume you didn't brief him separately?" Mary asked Kingsley.
"No," he answered. "The only time he asked for more information was concerning the Archive raid. Even then, he just wanted reassurance that no unnecessary risks would be taken. If you recall, I had few operational details to tell in that instance."
"Quite."
"Anyone else?"
"Just one."
"Go on."
"Well," said Mary slowly, "it's just that one name is missing from the names listed. I thought it rather strange when I first deciphered the list."
"Whose name is missing?"
"Harriet Castle."
"Who?"
"She was the young lady that the dashing Specialist Careem was so smitten with."
Harry looked over to Mary and thought she was different somehow. She was sitting upright and now looked less relaxed. Then he realised what it was. He was listening to the analyst Miss Alice, not Mary Happell.
"Oh yes!" said Bateman, who showed no sign of noticing any difference in Mary. "I'd forgotten her. She never had access to everything, though, did she?"
"She had no sight of my briefings nor any of the minutes, to my knowledge. She did however see all of my instructions to the Police and most of their reports back. She also organised most of the logistics."
"Could she be a witch?"
"No," said Miss Alice at once. "I'm afraid I tested her in that respect."
"What did you do to her?"
"Put her in considerable danger, actually. I arranged an industrial accident for her. She failed to use magic to help herself or the others in her vicinity. I was convinced after that."
Hermione looked at Miss Alice in complete shock. Harry supposed that having become accustomed to sending operatives into dangerous situations, she had acquired a stronger stomach than most.
"Was she permanently injured?" asked Bateman.
"Not permanently, no."
"What if someone tried to impersonate her?" asked Hermione.
"Well, we all undertook random questionnaires. There were no sudden changes in answers from hers. If there was an impersonator, they would have had to memorise an impossibly detailed and intimate things."
"I certainly haven't missed having to complete those things every couple of weeks," muttered Bateman. "Honestly, I could hardly remember the answers myself."
"That was the idea and honest errors in memory were factored in."
"I never could remember what cartoon animals were on my pyjamas before I went to school. Who could?"
"You had giraffes aged eight and monkeys until you were ten. After than it was Dan Dare or Superman."
"How on earth?"
"Where is she now?" asked Harry, interrupting them.
"No idea," answered Miss Alice. "I was excluded from that level of security almost immediately after the Archive raid."
"Do you still have access, Bear?"
"No. My clearance was revoked just after I had my memory modified. It was only supposed to be temporary while they investigated what happened, but it was never fully reinstated. We were all reassigned shortly after."
"Do you think Careem would know how to contact her?"
"I'll ask him," said Bateman.
"We'll ask him," corrected Miss Alice.
"Oh," said Bateman darkly. "Just for a moment there, I forgot I was still under suspicion."
"I didn't say that," said Miss Alice lightly, "but we shouldn't take any chances. Where is Careem living these days?"
"I don't know exactly, but I have a method to contact him. We just need to place a personal advert in a national newspaper telling him to get in touch. I just need to call the booking office. I have an account, so there's nothing to pay."
"Why did you set up an account?"
"I knew I might be on the run and lacking cash."
Miss Alice raised her eyebrows in surprise and Harry suddenly remembered something.
"Here," he said fumbling in his pockets. "I withdrew some cash for you."
He handed Bateman two generous rolls of bank notes.
"There's way too much here, Harry," said Bateman offering two of them back.
"No, please take them. You don't know when we'll see each other again."
*
Kingsley promised to escort Mary and Bateman safely back to the train station. Harry and Hermione would Disapparate directly from Kingsley's treetop tent.
Just before they went, Bateman pulled Harry to one side.
"I know you're not happy about this, but it'll work out in the end."
Harry bit back his anger, and managed to say, "I feel responsible for you both. I felt terrible the first time you lost your memory and now it feels like I'm losing you all over again."
"Hey, this won't be forever. Once I finally remember what it is I want to tell you, I'm sure I'll be kicking your door down and blaming you for not reminding me like you were supposed to."
Harry laughed.
"Did you read your letter?" he asked tentatively.
"What letter?"
"The letter you wrote to yourself. You know, to explain."
"I wrote a letter?"
"Yes! I saw you seal it. You finished it a couple of hours before you took the potion."
"I don't remember. Still, can't be that important, can it?"
"Maybe you left it somewhere," suggested Harry.
"Forget it. Listen, Harry. I want you to promise me that you'll continue practising and do the lessons that Hermione wants you to do. You are getting very advanced in some things but you are lacking in others, from what she says. Use the time you have, Harry."
He placed a large hand on Harry's shoulder and gave him an encouraging squeeze.
*
Hermione pulled a miserable Harry by his hand up the stairs towards their bedrooms at Grimmauld Place.
He didn't resist, and soon found himself being pushed down onto the side of his bed.
Hermione climbed on behind him and began massaging his shoulders until he slowly began to relax.
Stopping briefly, Hermione dropped a small flat disk into his lap.
"What's this?" he asked, picking it up.
"It's a message wheel. If you spin the centre, when it comes to rest the small window will show the exact same word or phrase that its twin is set to. I gave the other one to Mary."
"Miss Alice, you mean," he muttered before spinning the wheel.
"Hey, she's just doing her best," Hermione said sharply, her hands pressing down to emphasise her annoyance. "It can't be easy trying to cope knowing the person you love can't remember ever having feelings for you."
The small disk stopped spinning and read, "Okay," in the small window.
"This is clever," said Harry, "and I'm sorry."
Hermione leaned forward and kissed him before climbing off the bed.
"Hey, I said I was sorry," Harry complained. "Don't go."
"Harry, we need to be up early tomorrow. You are really behind with your coursework and I have so much to read up on."
She reached the door before he looked up.
"They'll be alright, won't they?" asked Harry.
"I hope so," she replied gently. "Goodnight, Harry."