What I Always Wanted
Chapter 22: Imposter
Harry, Ron, Tonks, Kingsley, Agamennous and the Horntails moved quickly down Belraye Road; an all wizarding street tucked away quietly among the streets of Marylebone. It was early evening, the sun having just set. William Leeds, Harry's second in command nodded towards a stately brick building on the left. Harry checked the address which read Old Belraye Road E4. With a quick nod to Will Harry, Ron and the others entered the building while Will and the Horntails sealed off the perimeter. Harry led the way as he and the others took the lift up to the fourth floor flat where they found the young auror Richards standing outside the door looking exceedingly grave. Upon seeing Harry, Richards averted his eyes and stared at the floor. Harry got the impression that things were about to get even more horribly wrong than they presently were.
As he entered the room Harry quickly evaluated the scene before him. Aurors Creswell and Perkins were casually standing about the room looking rather uninterested. At least that is the way their behavior would have appeared to the unassuming eye. Not so for an auror. In his initial cursory glance Harry ascertained that the two had stationed themselves at the points a person would mostly likely use were they attempting to make an escape. Perkins was standing near a bank of windows just to the left of a hallway. Creswell was standing near a kitchen counter; a door which could have been a pantry was directly behind him. Harry knew that Will and the others had warded the building to prevent anyone entering or exiting after the more senior officers had entered. Satisfied that their quarry wouldn't absent herself Harry directed his attention back to the matter at hand.
In the center of the room was a couch on which were seated three women. The woman closest to the door was easily identifiable; she was Esmeralda Satterfield, a former auror who now served as Melbourne's secretary. The other two women were not so easy to identify. They were both noticeably attractive, of medium build with reddish brown hair and deep set dark brown eyes. Harry noted that the two women looked remarkably alike and seeing that one was an older version of the other surmised that the pair were mother and daughter. The sight twisted his stomach as he thought of Hermione and their unborn child. He closed his eyes for a moment and expelled a deep breath before he looked up and asked crisply.
"Auror Satterfield what have we got?"
Esmeralda inclined her head before she spoke. Cutting her eyes in the direction of the women sitting to her left she said.
"I'd like for you to meet Rebecca Greenfendle…"
At Esmeralda's words Harry focused in on the face of the older woman, clearly Daphne had taken her looks after her father. Just then Harry's thoughts were intruded upon by the next words out of Esmeralda's mouth.
"…and her daughter Daphne."
Whatever thoughts and words that had been forming in Harry's mind dissolved instantly into nothingness. Harry stared wide eyed at the young woman sitting before him and asked.
"You're Daphne Greenfendle…"
Harry paused and waited as the bewildered young woman nodded her head and answered back with a barely audible yes. The next two words that fell from Harry's mouth were clipped and filled with emotion.
"Prove it."
Harry and the others spent the next hour hearing how the real Daphne Greenfendle had been living in Germany for the past year working as a departmental assistant in the German Ministry of Magic's Department of Unknown Antiquarian Magic. Mrs. Greenfendle corroborated her daughter's story explaining how shocked she and her husband Carlton had been when Daphne had received the appointment to the German Ministry. She added that she had spent the last eight weeks on holiday in Germany with her daughter. Harry dispatched Esmeralda Satterfield and two of his horntails to the Germany Ministry to speak with officials there to verify the story. Harry also had one of his horntails to check on when and how the Ministry had offered the position as Hermione's assistant to a Daphne Greenfendle. While they waited Rebecca Greenfendle prattled on and on about her daughter's stay in Germany and the unexpectedness of the offer. She talked about the rushed preparations and the stress it had caused the family. At present she was rambling about how her daughter's taking off to Germany had been especially trying considering that they'd just signed the lease on Daphne's new flat, and then she was to be off to another country in need of another apartment. The Greenfendles were staring down the prospect of having to pay for two flats in two countries when luck would have it that they found a lovely young woman who was looking for a place to sublet. As those words tumbled out of Rebecca Greenfendle's mouth Harry's head snapped up.
"Did you say that you rented this flat to a young woman?"
Rebecca Greenfendle nodded her head.
"Yes, it was the week before Daphne was set to leave for Germany. We'd tried everything we could think of to get out of the lease with no luck; we'd all but given up on finding some way out until Leah turned up. Merlin sent she was…needed a place quite badly she did…she paid the first three months in advance and even added extra for the furniture…didn't have anything of her own poor dear…"
Harry interrupted Mrs. Greenfendle's rambling reply.
"This Leah that you rented the flat to, how and when did she pay you?"
Mrs. Greenfendle thought for a moment before answering.
"Every month a week before the rent was due we received payment in the full amount down to the last newt by owl post."
"She doesn't pay in person?"
Rebecca Greenfendle shook her head no.
"Oh no, seems her job kept her quite busy…kept odd hours she did…but never gave us an ounce of trouble and kept the flat neat as a pin."
This time it was Ron who posed a question.
"How often do you see this Leah?"
Tonks added in a question of her own.
"When was the last time you saw her?"
Rebecca Greenfendle answered without hesitation.
"I try to get by once a week to pick up Daphne's post and if Leah happened to be in we'd chat a bit but as I haven't been here these past two months we haven't seen each other in some time obviously. The last time we spoke was just before I left to go on holiday."
At this point Harry took over the conversation.
"Mrs. Greenfendle, this woman you sublet the flat to…this Leah…what else can you tell us about her…what's her surname…did she have references…where did she work…did she have visitors…did she mention any family or close friends."
Rebecca chewed her lower lip in concentration before answering the litany of questions that had been posed to her.
"She never mentioned any family or friends as such, she was quite alone poor dear…her parents died when she was young and there was no other family to speak of. I never saw any visitors when I was here but that's not to say that she didn't have any just that I never saw them. She never said where she worked now that I think on it but she was such a sweet girl I didn't see any need to pry."
Harry reiterated one of his earlier questions.
"Her surname…what was Leah's surname?"
Rebecca Greenfendle tapped her chin thoughtfully with her forefinger and said.
"It was something ending in ford as I recall…Sanford, no…Redford, no, no…Bedford, umm…Pickford…I'm certain that it ended in ford…"
The real Daphne Greenfendle cut off her mother's latest bout of rambling and supplied the answer.
"Penneford, her surname was Penneford."
Harry, Ron and Tonks all gasped in surprise. Ron let out a low whistle and said.
"Penneford…you don't think that this girl is some relation to Alexander Penneford do you?"
It was Tonks who answered.
"It would answer just what is going on."
Harry ignored the back and forth chat going on between Ron and Tonks. Reaching into the pocket of his robes Harry drew out a picture and handing it to Rebecca Greenfendle asked.
"Is this Leah Penneford?"
Rebecca took the photo and with barely a glance replied.
"Yes that's Leah."
Harry had the photo in hand and was barking orders as he headed for the door before Rebecca and Daphne Greenfendle knew what had happened.
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Harry paced back and forth in front of his desk behind which Tonks was seated. Splayed before her on the desk was a file from which she was reading.
"Alexander Penneford and his wife Clara Van den Meer - Penneford had two daughters, identical twins named Leah and Lyra. Clara died when the girls were three; Penneford raised them on his own no doubt filling their impressionable young minds with his pureblood mania. Following Penneford's death the girls were sent to live with relatives of their mother in Holland. As near as I can tell they've kept out of trouble, they've got no history of illicit behavior in Holland. According to the Dutch Ministry the Penneford girls traded in their wands once they finished school and took to living as muggles."
Ron cut in.
"Ahh let me guess the Dutch don't keep tabs on witches and wizards who turn in their wands and go muggle."
Tonks closed the file as she replied.
"They monitor their magic activity but Leah and Lyra Penneford seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth four years ago."
Following Tonks' declaration silence descended upon the room for several minutes until Ron spoke again.
"So how do you reckon Leah and Lyra Penneford end up working with Isolde Melbourne?"
Harry ceased worrying a rut in the floor and answered Ron's question.
"They went underground, tapped into their father's network somehow…found one of his cohorts who had escaped detection and set out to finish what their father started."
"You think they're trying to raise a pureblood army like their father did!"
Harry shrugged at Ron's question.
"Perhaps, perhaps not…at the very least they've led someone to believe that's what they're up to."
Tonks jumped in.
"It makes sense that they would have to come up with something like that to get any cohort of their father's to help them, I doubt any of them would risk detection on the off chance that they would get a chance at offing Harry."
Ron nodded.
"True as that may be it still doesn't answer how Isolde Melbourne is involved in all of this.
Before Tonks could answer Ron Harry's voice sounded fiercely throughout the room.
"It doesn't matter who is involved or why, they've got Hermione and I want her home safe and I'll done whatever I have to get her back safely."
The words were barely out of Harry's mouth when an eagle owl came swooping into the room. The owl landed on the desk facing Harry and extended its leg to him. The bird waited patiently for Harry to retrieve the note it carried before hurriedly flying off. Harry carefully opened the note and quickly scanned its contents; turning round Harry snatched up his cloak and heading for the door called over his shoulder.
"Let's go!"
Tonks and Ron leapt from their seats and hastily set off after him.
A/N: I know it has been far too long since I've updated this piece but I hope this installment is the ending of my perpetual writer's block. Thank you all so much for your patience.
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