What I Always Wanted
Chapter 15: Discovery
Hermione stared at Harry in amazement as she processed the news he'd just delivered. Shocked beyond words Hermione sat mute and still as stone for several minutes before she found her voice and asked in a hushed whisper.
"How did you manage to figure out Priam Melbourne was a member of the Obsidian Order?"
Harry smiled as he caught the hint of wonder in Hermione's voice. Of the trio, it was always Hermione who did all the finding of obscure facts, he and Ron had always been more hands on so to speak. At the thought of Ron Harry automatically reached for his wand; a slivery jet shaped like a Horntail burst out of the tip of his wand and went streaking through the fireplace. Harry turned to Hermione and said.
"I don't think he'd want to miss this and I doubt I'd be up for telling it twice."
Hermione nodded and somewhat wobbly rose to her feet. As she made her way to the door she called back over her shoulder.
"I'll put the kettle on and make sandwiches."
Hermione had just cleared the door when a bleary-eyed, pajama-clad Ron Weasley appeared at Harry's shoulder crouched in a defensive stance, wand raised and at the ready. Groggily he muttered.
"Whasamadda…"
Harry grabbed Ron's wrist and gently lowered his wand arm towards the floor and cutting off his query said.
"No need for alarm nothings the matter Ron…"
Ron turned to look at Harry quizzically as he said.
"Nothings the matter…but you sent a fire-breathing Horntail patronous…that's the sign for eminent danger."
Harry shook his head.
"I didn't send a fire-breathing Horntail patronous Ron; it was just the standard roaring Horntail patronous we always use for critical information relays. I've uncovered some interesting news about the Melbourne case. "
An annoyed expression covered Ron's face as he turned to his best mate and former partner and said.
"You mean to tell me you got me out of bed at four in the bloody morning because you found out something about Agamennous Melbourne's mental daughter!"
Ron's voice rose at least two octaves on the last bit. Harry's reply was nonplussed.
"Actually, it's more to do with her brother Priam but as the two are so closely linked there's really no point to arguing semantics."
Ron's eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth to reply but whatever Ron had been about to say was lost as Hermione reentered the room carrying a tray of smoked ham, egg and bacon sandwiches and three steaming cups of tea. Ron's expression lightened as he turned to face Hermione and relieved her of the tray. Grabbing one of the sandwiches and taking a huge bite he directed his attention back to Harry and asked around a mouthful of food as he dropped into one of the armchairs near the fireplace.
"So what's this big news you got e out of bed for?"
"You haven't told him yet?"
Hermione questioned Harry before he'd had a chance to respond to Ron's question. With a shake of his head replied.
"No…we had to sort through Ron's sleep-addled response to my patronous."
Hermione nodded as she mouthed the word "Oh". Ron shot them both nasty glares as he bit into his fourth sandwich and reiterated his question.
"Well…"
Seeing the anticipatory look on Ron's face, Harry took a deep breath and repeated the words he'd spoken to Hermione earlier.
"I got talking with Hermione's father at Sunday lunch and he got me to look at things from a different point of view which got me thinking how close Isolde Melbourne was to her brother Priam which got me thinking maybe I ought to take a closer look at him and that proved to be the key to how all this mess got started…"
Harry paused for a beat then said.
"Priam Melbourne was a member of the Obsidian Order."
Ron's eyes widened and he dropped the half eaten sandwich clutched in his hand as he rose from his seat.
"Did you just say that…that…that…Melbourne's son was a member of the Obsidian Order?"
Harry nodded. Ron shook his head, his face still showing shock and disbelief. Ron breathed deeply then asked.
"You're sure?"
Again Harry nodded. Ron expelled another deep breath and exclaimed.
"Bloody Hell!"
Following Ron's whispered exclamation Hermione reasserted herself into the conversation.
"Harry exactly how did you happen to find out that Priam Melbourne was a member of the Obsidian Order? I mean that's not exactly the sort of information that you're likely to find listed along with a person's birth certificate…members of the Obsidian Order don't usually make their allegiance public."
Harry reached for a sandwich. He paused, took a bite, and then replied.
"No it's not the type of thing you find listed in a person's biography…"
Ron cut in, his words dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh I dunno I'm pretty sure I'd take out an ad in the Prophet if I were to join the oldest most terrible group of dark wizards known to wizardkind."
Hermione tsked loudly.
"The Obsidian Order are not dark wizards Ron…"
Ron raised his eyebrows and in the same sarcastic tone as before said.
"Oh really…not dark wizards you say…well how in the name of Merlin do you explain all the really horrible dark arts spells and potions that were made by some nutter who happened to be a card carrying member of the Obsidian Order."
Hermione rolled her eyes skyward and expelled a breath through her nose. Then in a rather put out tone she rebutted Ron's statement.
"Honestly Ron for someone who grew up in an entirely wizarding family your knowledge of wizarding history is appalling."
Ron's would be infuriated reply was silenced by Hermione's raised finger and steely, reproachful glare. Seeing that Ron was properly quelled, she elaborated.
"What we know as the Obsidian Order and falsely believe to be a society of dark wizards is actually the last vestiges of a brotherhood of Celtic and Druid wizards who pioneered much of the magic we use today. Even the name the Obsidian Order is a convoluted bastardization of the original name of the organization. The group was originally known as the Onyx Knights, their sole purpose was to explore the varied uses the magic. They set down much of the magic we use today and without them modern-day wizardry would be in a sorry state indeed."
As Hermione finished her statement Ron interrupted with a scathing reply.
"Oh please Hermione, spare us the finer points of the Obsidian Order. Honestly, who cares what that lot used to be, the fact is that now they are a bunch of bloody nutters who go around using all the magic they know to hurt people, not to help Hermione but to hurt them."
Hermione's eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to retort no doubt disdainfully to Ron's mockery. Harry caught sight of the look marring Hermione's expression and decided to step in and stop the spat before it escalated into one of their legendary rows. Stepping between his wife and best friend Harry cleared his throat and said.
"Can the two of you agree to disagree? Or would you rather continue row and never know how I found out what Priam Melbourne was up to?"
Ron and Hermione glanced at each other then stared back at Harry before returning their gazes to fix on each other's faces once again staring at each other for a few brief seconds. The pair nodded and returning their attention back to Harry. Ron was the one to speak.
"Alright then mate get on with it… how did you find out that Melbourne's son was a member of the Obsidian Order?"
Having successfully stopped Ron and Hermione's fight a smile spread across Harry's face as he replied.
"Well, it's like I told the two of you before, I got to thinking that maybe we were looking at this thing from the wrong end of things. All this time we'd been focusing on Isolde and what she was doing. It never occurred to us to ask why. Why would a girl who had so much promise, fake her own death? Once I asked myself that it was honestly too easy. Here, she was having lost everything and everyone she held dear all in one go. I imagine she was angry, and she wanted answers, and I reckon she wanted someone to pay. But what did she want them to pay for? What had started all of this to begin with… then it hit me...Priam. All of a sudden, it became clear he was the key. He had to have been involved in something that said this chain of events in motion. Something dangerous… something that got him killed… something that made his sister want to avenge him. So I went looking for something in Priam Melbourne's past that someone might think was an important enough secret to kill for."
Ron interjected.
"Hang on, you sussed out that this bloke was in the Obsidian Order just like that? Bloody hell Harry you are better at this investigating lark than I gave you credit for."
Hermione chuckled.
"Don't be daft Ron; of course, it took more than that for Harry to figure this out. Clearly there's more to this story."
Hermione turned her attention back to Harry and nodded for him to continue. Harry frowned at the implication of Hermione's words, while Ron stifled a snicker. Deciding to ignore his wife's cheek, Harry continued.
"I figured that the answer to all my questions lie in learning more about our mystery man Priam. So I set about finding out more about his life. Since Hermione is always going on and on about how great the Ministry's archives are I took a trip down to the Department of Mysteries to check out the Melbourne family tree. Not much out of the ordinary in that, but it did show me one thing. It seems our boy Priam was quite the scholar. Before he went off to Hogwarts preamp was featured in the Daily Prophet for a research paper he'd written on antediluvian forms of magic. Thankfully the Prophet took the liberty of reprinting the essay, and you'll never guess who the paper focused mostly on…"
A huge self-satisfied grin spread across Ron's countenance as he replied.
"The Obsidian Order…"
Harry returned Ron's grin with a matching one of his own.
"Too right you are Ron too right you are! Once I saw that I thought it'd be worth the trip to see what else our friend had gotten up to."
Harry was interrupted again this time by Hermione.
"You thought it would be worth the trip? Harry, where did you go?"
Giving a nonchalant shrug, Harry replied.
"I went to the one place I was guaranteed to find artifacts from the life of Priam Melbourne…"
As those words rolled past Harry's lips Hermione's eyes widened in their sockets, she gasped and called out in whole screeching voice.
"Harry, you didn't!"
Harry stared back at Hermione non-pulsed and answered.
"Hermione, everything is fine, he wasn't home…"
Hermione cut across Harry's explanation and retorted hotly.
"Everything is fine… he wasn't home… Merlin Harry do you hear yourself? You broke into your superior's house! If you'd been caught more than your job would've been on the line. Good Lord Harry, Melbourne has been asked to use since the day you started auror training…"
Hermione's words were interrupted by Ron's triumphant laughter.
"Brilliant Harry brilliant, you broke into Agamennous Melbourne's house. Bloody hell, I wish I could've been there with you. Please tell me that you got some good dirt on him, tell me that he wears ladies knickers or something like that."
Harry smiled wryly as he shook his head.
"Sorry Ron I can't help you there… I was sort of focused at the time. So I wasn't paying much attention to Melbourne's habits."
Hermione grunted in exasperation. Harry and Ron both turned to look at her.
"I honestly don't believe the pair of you… Harry just broke into his superior's house and all you can think of Ron is whether or not Melbourne wears ladies knickers! You two are completely mental!"
Harry could see the Hermione was working herself into a right fine strop. Harry covered the distance between them in two strides; he lovingly wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist and said.
"Love. I was never in any danger. Melbourne is presently out of town. I just wanted to do a little looking around."
Hermione nodded and answered back quietly.
"It was still a stupid thing to do."
"Well, I've never claimed to be the brains of this outfit."
As he spoke, Harry pulled Hermione closer to him. Reaching down, he tilted her chin up so that she was staring directly into his gorgeous green eyes. And impishly infectious smile touch the corners of his mouth and as Hermione caught sight of it she couldn't help smiling herself.
"Just so long as you don't forget that."
"I won't."
Harry leaned forward and pressed his lips against Hermione's. Before either of them had the chance to consider deepening the kiss Ron cleared his throat loudly reminding the newlyweds that they were not alone.
"Geez you two give it a rest…what exactly did you find out Harry?"
Harry turned his attention back to Ron though he did not relinquish his hold on his wife.
"I hadn't really planned on going to Melbourne's place but once I saw that essay it got me thinking that maybe there was something Priam had left behind…some clue of some sort. I figured that Melbourne probably still had most of Priam and Isolde's stuff packed away somewhere. And seeing as how I already knew he would be out of town for a few days I didn't think it'd hurt to pop over to his cottage and have a poke around."
Hermione looked up at Harry and queried.
"How did you manage to get inside Melbourne's house? You would think that an auror would have all sorts of wards and defenses up to keep people out."
Harry answered back.
"Of course he had wards up, but like most aurors they were far too simple and insufficient to stop me from getting around them."
Ron added in.
"Yeah aurors are the worst when it comes to setting up wards…it's like they think criminals are too afraid to go after them."
Harry shrugged.
"I'm not sure what it is all I know is that I was able to get in and find exactly what I needed."
"Which was?"
Hermione's question hung in the air for a moment as Harry dug into his back pocket and produced a small book. He handed the book to Hermione and said.
"Unless I'm very much mistaken, I think you'll find answers to our little journal in this book of Priam's."
Hermione took the book from Harry's outstretched hand and began thumbing through it. Hermione turned back to look at Harry and whispered.
"Harry the writing in this book..it…it…it's exactly the same as in the pictures from all your cases."
Harry nodded.
"Yes it is, but with one exception…Priam's book doesn't leave off without telling you what all those ruddy symbols really mean."
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