Chapter 63 - Double Cross
Composed on the outside and seething on the inside, Harry saw shadows the brief moment he looked into her eyes. He had never seen her like this.
"Is this the fucking genius who came up with it?" Andy kicked the petrified figure on the floor as she asked.
"Uh-huh."
"I thought so," she replied, jaws clenched, nodding.
At some point in the limited remainder of his life, Greasy would get what he deserved.
Crack!
Harry turned and she was gone. He waited, ready to back her up whatever she chose to do. This was going to be interesting.
"Where does she think she's going?" Neville threw his arms up in the air, his tone mocking, making the mistake of underestimating her.
Pop!
Andy reappeared beside Toots and zapped him with a jinx that gave him incentive to wake and get up. Her wand tip was now half an inch lost within Toot's thick neck.
"What's going on?" Toots asked somewhat disoriented.
"So here's a choice for you, Longbottom," Andy stared icily at Neville who was but a few feet away, "Which version of Toots do you prefer? Gardener, vegetable or fertilizer?"
"Seriously now," Neville deferred to Harry, certain that Andy was bluffing.
"W…what does she m…mean by that?"
An ashen Toots looked at Harry nervously. If the gardener fainted again, he hoped Andy would be better prepared than the last time. Harry glanced back and their eyes met. Andy was with it now. She had this look that she knew what she was doing. It was a brilliant move but what if Neville called her bluff?
"I wouldn't test her," Harry advised, meaning it. "She may not kill him but she can mess with his memory."
That would be more believable.
"My what!" Toots exclaimed.
Andy stepped back, aimed her wand at the base of Toots' head and extracted a silvery white threadlike substance. She let it lose and they watched its to and fro motion as it floated like a feather in the air. Toots momentarily lost the black of his eyes up in his head.
"Evanesco!"
Uh-oh...
"Did she just make that memory vanish?" Neville asked shrilly, sharing in his disbelief.
"Who are you people? Why am I here?"
Yup. That was his memory alright.
"Oops! My bad. I didn't want that one," Andy apologized insincerely and continued nonchalantly, "I'm a bit rusty with my memory spells and quite stressed out because my kid brother is in danger. But not to worry, I'll get the next one right."
"You really shouldn't have involved her family," Harry commented, trying to hide his surprise that she had gone that far.
"Fine," Neville recovered his composure, "I'm a reasonable man. We can trade. Your brother for Mr. Toots, and you can take the kid home yourself."
"I'm Mr. Toots. Why are you pointing your wand at me?"
Totally ignoring the gardener, Andy hesitated, torn between wanting to stay to help him and wanting to take Julius home safely. While Neville did not have much use for Julius, he needed both Hermione and Toots, and Andy knew fully well that Harry wasn't leaving without her.
"Is it a deal?" Neville enquired calmly, putting on the pressure.
In Harry's opinion it was a good one.
"She'll take it."
"No she won't," Andy immediately recanted Harry's answer already deciding to stay, "Send my brother to the Ministry and I want confirmation from the Head Auror that he's there."
"It would be wiser to take Julius there yourself. I insist..."
Neville stopped talking. Andy had her wand pointed at Toots' head again.
His fellow Gryffindor persisted, pointing to Harry,"He has to stay because of Hermione. You don't have to be here. I'm saving your life."
"Who the fuck do you think you are, Jesus Christ?" she retorted, "I don't need saving! Just do it!"
To show that she meant it Andy began pulling another memory out of Toots' brain.
"Fine," Neville finally relented, "Fine. It's your funeral."
He was quite annoyed when he got on his phone, watching them like a hawk as he spoke with someone. Harry slowly walked closer to where Toots and Andy were. His eyes met with Andy's fleetingly. Having worked with her for some time he knew she had a plan thought out already. Hopefully they would be on the same page.
It wasn't a question of if or when they were going to fight him but how. The Hogwarts professor seemed sincere about letting Julius go it would have been foolish not to take advantage of his generosity before confronting him. As much as Neville was right about them being ill equipped, it was inevitable.Dueling him would be the only way to end this.
He regarded his former friend and reminded himself that the man before them was not the same man he knew. Neville had to be taken down and with Waterman tied up it was as good a moment as any.
After a couple of minutes, Neville put Jack Muller on amplified speakerphone. With Toots on the brink of tears, the two other wizards stared each other down as Andy spoke with Jack. If Neville was going to make a move now was the time to do that.
"Jack?"
"Marsh, is Toots okay?"
"He's alive."
"Help me! Please!"
Andy put another silencing charm on the gardener.
"And Potter?"
"The same. What's the weather like today?"
It was a test question to verify identity, random from a list of a dozen ones Jack worked out between each Auror he had under him. Even Harry did not know what the correct answer was.
"As frigid as my hag of a wife," Jack replied, and only she and Jack would have come up with something like that, "Julius is with me and Colin is with Ian and Karl. They're safe."
"Put Julius on."
Julius was beside himself as his voice came over the speaker. Harry could tell he had been crying.
"I'm so sorry Andy, I didn't know...I just wanted to try it and see what it's like..."
"Julius, I know, it's okay, I understand," Andy said reassuringly over Julius' repeated apologies, "Jules, Jules, listen. Can you answer a few questions for me?"
"Uh-huh."
"Do you like playing hockey?"
"You know I love playing hockey."
"Why?"
"Andy..."
"It's very important. I need to know it's you."
After a moment, the young man replied somewhat meekly as if embarrassed, "It's fast and exciting..."
"And..."
"Being on skates and playing it is the closest thing to being on a broom and playing Quidditch I'll ever get."
It took some time before Andy could respond to her brother's heartbreaking reply. She had intimated to Harry some time ago what she knew was the root cause behind Julius' acting out and how she felt helpless about the fact that he wasn't magical.
"Thanks, Jules. I'll see you later," Andy tried to sound upbeat.
"I'm really sorry, Andy."
"You did nothing wrong, Jules."
"Take care, man. It was nice meeting you," Neville said pleasantly, hung up. He continued to look at Andy, disinterested with what had been going on until Julius got off the phone, "Now, about your end of the deal."
With Julius safe at the Ministry with Jack, the old Andy was back. She feigned a frown.
"Wait a sec, I don't remember ever making a deal," she conferred with Harry, "Did I make a deal?"
"Hmm...now that you mention it..."
Neville cut them off, speaking with a hint of frustration, "Need I remind you that I'm the bad guy here and if there's any double crossing that's going to happen, I'm supposed to be the one doing it?"
"That's actually a good point," Andy agreed, to annoy Neville.
"We should be ashamed of ourselves," Harry did the same.
"You try to be nice and this happens," Neville was shaking his head as he commented to Toots, who was the one person in the room he could possibly get sympathy from.
"You have Toots."
"No, you have Toots."
Crack! Crack!
As they turfed the babysitting job to the other Neville beat them to the punch. He disappeared with the intent to reclaim the gardener and Andy had no choice but to take Toots with her and do the same!
Pop! Pop!
Neville was going to reappear somewhere close and Harry was expecting him when he did. He stuck his wand against Neville's chest.
Incendio!
The flames that engulfed his clothes were quickly extinguished by the wave of a hand. Harry choked as smoke and the pungent smell of burnt flesh filled his lungs, noticing the charred garment repair itself instantaneously over regenerating skin.
"I don't want to fight you," his fellow Gryffindor declared.
While protecting himself from an onslaught of curses from Andy with the right hand, Neville flicked his left wrist in the air and sent Harry soaring. Harry fell and skidded, his back burning from friction as he cleared a strip of area on the floor. He fired at Neville.
Bombarda!
Crack! Crack!
Smash!
He missed. The coward disappeared again and so did Andy and Toots, gone even before Harry got off the floor. He concentrated at the spot where Toots and Andy stood moments before.
Crack!
Pop! Pop!
"Please! Stop! You're going to splinch me!"
"Better listen to him Longbottom!"
The silencing charm on Toots had broken. Ghostly sounds of Toots' concern and Andy's reply could be heard intra-Apparition.
Pop!
This time, it was Neville who was ready for him. At Neville's touch, a knifelike pain shot right through muscle and bone, so much so when he looked down he was almost sure he had been physically gored. It hurt when his heart beat and it hurt when he breathed.
Revulso!
The repulsion charm caused Neville to release him. As Harry gasped for air, Neville drew out his wand and deflected hexes from Andy. There was no rest for the injured; he could continue to gasp while curse at the same time. The hum of destruction and devastation was ear shattering as they both attacked.Neville used his wand and hands to defend himself. They spaced themselves at a hundred and thirty five degree angle from the other to get their opponent to cover a wider area. It was mayhem. Spells were flying everywhere, hitting everything, turning the room into something comparable to a tornado disaster area.
Neville turned on the offense.
"Incarcerous!"
Magical ropes appeared out of nowhere and tied Andy up. While Harry blasted them off to release her, the break in the assault gave Neville the opportunity to free up Waterman with his hand and conjure a Patronus with his wand. Harry could only watch as the messenger slithered away and out of sight, undoubtedly to shore up reinforcements. The Squib was attempting to get up. They didn't have much time.
"Keep him busy!" he yelled to her over the noise, training his eye on the space behind Neville.
Crack! Pop!
Harry Disapparated while Andy kept Neville preoccupied. Conjuring an aluminum baseball bat intra-Apparition and back-pocketing his wand as he reappeared, he grasped the object's handle with both hands tightly and immediately hammered the outstretched arm nearest him.
Wham! Clang!
One forearm bent out of shape and one weapon on the floor.
"Protego!"
Andy successfully blocked Neville's attempt to curse Harry with his free hand, leaving Toots cowering in the corner as she hurriedly moved closer to the action. Harry took the bat back, stepped through his swing and aimed for the fences.
Whomp!
The blow caught Neville in the midsection. He winced and doubled over. Harry lifted the bat overhead and swung a third time.
Whack!
The metal rod rapidly descended upon Neville's back forcing their foe to fall on one knee. Judging from the yelp and the expression on Neville's face his augmented magical power was wearing off. They had their chance!
The bat hit the ground as Harry discarded it and pulled his weapon out in one smooth motion. He aimed his wand at Neville's body and Andy did the same.
Confringo!
The curse detonated and that combined with whatever explosive hex Andy conjured hit Neville at full force from a very close distance all three of them where thrown back.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Harry didn't have to look to know what was happening. He stood and helped Andy, who ended up lying close to where he was.
Plink! Plink!
Two unbreakable phials hit the stone floor in succession. Waterman was on his feet, his bloodied face less bloody, more recognizable and understandably livid. He was flanked by a small army of wand wielding trigger happy Squibs.
"Fuck…," Andy breathed through gritted teeth and only for him to hear.
"You should have taken the deal," he said to her, neither taking their eyes off the crowd in front of them.
"What? And miss all this fun?" she replied facetiously.
A pale and shaken Neville came out gingerly from behind Waterman gimpy and favoring his right arm. He gave his troops instructions.
"Don't kill him, yet."
"And her?" Waterman asked, leering at Andy.
"I don't care one way or the other," Neville replied.
The Squib sneered at Andy and announced, "Nobody touch her. She's mine."
"Oooh, I'm so scared," Andy mocked and taunted, "Careful what you ask for, dufus. You fight like a girl and you're going to get beaten by one."
"Shut up!"
"I have a lot to do. Do you think you can manage this without my help?" Neville remarked derisively.
"Go play with your little potion set," Waterman answered in kind.
There was definite animosity there. Toots drank the concoction Neville offered him and they Disapparated as Waterman set his guys lose.
Can't stun them; can't bind them; can't make any spell penetrate the protection afforded by giant magical tissue. They were going to have to be creative, at least for a few minutes. Harry destroyed the unbreakable phials they had with them the same time Andy waved her wand over the lot as they moved forward.
"Whoa!"
Thud!
Crash!
"Oomph!"
"Ow!"
"Get off me!"
She had transformed all their footwear into four inch stiletto heels. Andy was right. This was fun.
"Good one."
"Thanks. You take the six morons on the right and I'll take the six imbeciles on the left, including the biggest dimwit of them all."
"Are you sure you don't want my help with Waterman?"
"Why disappoint the asshole? You heard him. He wants me."
XXXXXXXXXX
Tilden Toots was shaking to the core as the man called Longbottom took him out of the battle zone and brought him to a place of peace. He looked around. He was in a well equipped and well stocked herbology research lab, surrounded by the sight of calming green and the smell of brown earth. Being in such space usually brought about inner tranquility but today there was no calming his frayed nerves down.
What they wanted from him was obvious. Potted thorn-less rose bushes were lined up in rows at the very end of the greenhouse and various tissue specimens of different shapes and sized were stocked in the shelves before him. His eyes widened in horror and with revulsion as he read the labels on them.
"N...no. A...absolutely not!" He stammered.
"It's for a good cause."
"I don't c...care. Why do you think Professor Snape and I parted ways?" he babbled nervously, "It is one thing having roses bear apples. This was precisely what he wanted to do and I drew the line right there. It is illegal to experiment on magical beings and magical enabling artifacts. What of my legacy; my reputation? I won't do it!"
"The tissues you will be using are already from the dead and the ban against work on magic enablers was lifted two days ago," the man explained, "You are being coerced. You will never be subjected to reprimand by what you are about to do today."
"I want no part in using magical creature tissue, regardless of how they were procured."
Longbottom heaved a deep sigh.
"Mr. Toots, it has been a very long morning and I've ran out of patience."
He motioned to the control room and two others escorted a hysterical middle aged wizard into the lab. Toots recognized him instantly.
"I believe you know Professor Hilter."
"Tilden! They are going to kill me!"
Jim Hilter worked and studied under him a long time ago and was one of his best students. He was one of the few people Toots corresponded with.
"His life is in your hands."
"Tilden! I don't want to die!"
"I c...can't…"
Longbottom nodded to one of his underlings.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"No!"
Jim was dead before his body hit the floor. Toots stared at the lifeless figure, speechless from shock and disbelief, wailing on the inside, hoping he would wake up from the nightmare he was living.
The two others walked off leaving the dead man where he fell as Longbottom sat on a three legged stool and set a large minute sandglass before him, contents trickling down its narrow neck as time ticked away.
"Fifty of the world's best Herbologists are relying on you to keep them and the future of plant study alive. I'll ask again in sixty seconds and I'll continue to ask until you get the answer right."
XXXXXXXXXX
"She's on the move," Dean pointed at the figure that just left the offices across the coffee shop he, Leo and Holly had been sitting at for the last half hour.
The three of them spread out and followed Healer Hama as unobtrusively as they could. She exited onto the less busy Gerrard Street and hung a left into a hidden alley between two buildings. It was there where the red blinking dots on Dean's GPS, the ones that that corresponded to the two tracking devices they planted on Hama, disappeared.
Patiently they waited, refreshing the search every few seconds. She was bound to reappear somewhere unless the act of Apparition damaged the Muggle made bugs.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Scratch that worry; they had a signal.
"Here we go," he said more to himself.
Dean zoomed into the map street level, the two red blinking dots at its centre.
"That's in York U," Holly said out loud, identifying the location.
"Deng Tan's Level Five Potions Lab," Leo added. "I'll call it in."
"Wait!" Dean exclaimed before Leo could take his phone out and motioned to the screen in his hand.
Where there were two red dots just seconds ago there remained only one.
XXXXXXXXXX
Pia Russet sat at one of the computers in a workroom at the Daily Prophet reading about Lana Hama. While she did not know the Healer personally and had never seen her participate actively in anti-potion or pro-potion activity, Hama's mother was a 'Quincy' and Pia suspected that she was a close relative of the Bruin muscle who reported to the Council.
Raised by her mother and stepfather, Hama grew up in the States and had been Healer and researcher for hospitals in San Francisco and Detroit. She was well respected by her peers and the appointment to Headmistress of the Potion Registry was fairly recent. She had obviously been using the conferences to find the Bruin granddaughter and had chosen Toronto because of the Watermans. Hama's stepdad was an uncle of the Squibs' father.
In front of her was a list of close Hama associates. Several Bruin names stood out; two of them she knew as Bruin elders. As she thought about how Hama could have influenced any of them, Weasley came into the room followed by a woman with large silvery grey eyes and dirty blonde hair that was pulled back into a bun.
"Luna Lovegood, Pia Russet."
They shook hands. Lovegood looked down upon her from above her upturned nose, back as stiff as a board, and expression grave and severe.
"Miss Russet," she spoke with a fixed upper lip, "I wish we could have met under more pleasant circumstances although I doubt it very much if we would have ever had this opportunity had it not been for the unfortunate events of the past few hours."
Weasley stifled a laugh as Lovegood gave her an admonishing look.
Pia could only nod, agreeing although she would have never put it that way. Weasley was still trying to keep herself from laughing.
"Luna is a friend of ours from Hogwarts. She's an Unspeakable. Hermione sent her some of the stuff that Waterman lost in your underground. Luna has been experimenting with it."
Lovegood did not break a smile, "What we are engaging in is highly illicit and we are likely going to be punished for it. But more importantly, being from Toronto, how sure are you that you are not a vector of the potentially infective Ontario maple tree bug lice?"
"The what?"
"Never mind," Lovegood dismissed hastily, turning her ire at Weasley who was now cackling, "Ginny, it is quite impolite to laugh at someone right in their faces particularly when they are trying to assist. This is unacceptable and very unladylike. You should be ashamed of yourself! Ten points from Gryffindor!"
"I'm so sorry Luna,"Weasley apologized, "I'm sure you'll find it funny after you've recovered from the side effects."
"Side effects?" Pia asked.
"Unwanted but necessary. I concocted potion that can neutralize your Toronto difficulties. I tested it myself and it works perfectly," Lovegood declared then turned to Weasley, "And here's that other thing you wanted done."
Lovegood handed Weasley a thick binder. The red head eagerly took it and began reading, oblivious to the awkward silence that fell in the room. After watching Weasley flip enthusiastically through a few pages, Pia couldn't stand it anymore.
"About Hama," Pia said, "All the connections make sense."
"Uh-huh," came Weasley's token reply.
"The Hamas, the Quincies, the Watermans, some high ranking Bruins and even your Mr. Creevey. It is a small world."
Weasley slapped the binder shut startling both her and Lovegood. Her brows were furrowed many times over.
"What did you just say?" Weasley asked.
"I said 'it is a small world'."
"What's the matter?" Lovegood enquired.
Weasley replied, "I think the world is about to get smaller."
XXXXXXXXXX
Hermione had been going over the potion making process with Neville. When he came back from wherever it was he came from his mood was evidently more downcast. She noticed the limp he came in with and the wince when their arms inadvertently got in each other's way as they reached for the same test ingredient. It did not take a genius to guess what happened.
"Is he okay?" she asked quietly without looking at Neville.
"You care about him a lot," he didn't look either; they continued to work.
"You know I do."
"You stayed away from him for a long time. That was a waste."
"It was complicated."
"About Weasley's fall; it wasn't your fault."
"I know."
"Whatever it was, I'm just telling you. It wasn't your fault."
She nodded;she heard him the first time, then asked about Harry again, "I want to know if Harry is okay. Tell me he's okay."
"He is okay."
"Can I see him?"
"Not now. Maybe when we're done."
She steeled herself, trying to block off that Harry was captive somewhere, probably more injured than Neville was. She couldn't help him; not yet. Maybe Neville was wrong, maybe she was wrong.
They practiced. Neville showed her how it was done and she mimicked what he taught. It wasn't difficult. If she had been making the real Bruin potion the toughest part would have been to get over the fact that magical organs were being used to brew it. Neville said Toots was on board and close to completing his part. After that, it would be their turn.
Admittedly, she was impressed with Neville's improvement in potion making. Working with and learning from him, she would have never guessed that the student who struggled to pass Potions at Hogwarts would blossom into one fine potion maker. There was precision, decisiveness and confidence in him Hermione never imagined he could ever develop.
Neville did intimate having to use Professor Snape's tissues to augment his skill. As horrible as that act was it was also an amazing transformation. Neville was not the Neville she knew, not even in how his grey eyes connected with hers when he spoke. There it was again, her forgetting that he was a monster, had tried to and probably still intended to kill Harry, and had gone beyond the reasonable and sane to meet an end.
She lost track of time and did not stop until Neville did to take a phone call. He asked for a break and then left. Hermione shut her eyes to rest. Not thinking of anything, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck suddenly tingled. It felt eerie, as if someone was watching her from behind.
It was probably her imagination like the two other times she felt the same weirdness earlier that day, but like those times Hermione just had to look back.