A/N. Have to dispense with some mystery requirements so the story will make sense. We're back in the present. Harry, Ted, Jessie, Warren, an HHr flashback, and a couple of old friends from Hogwarts.
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Chapter 11 - Behind the Scenes
2021 September 15
Ted nervously paced the anteroom to the Head Auror's office, wringing in his hands tightly rolled up parchments. He left a message for the Chief to call him and while typically he was a patient man, it was almost time for the big meeting and he didn't want the Chief blindsided. He figured Fletcher's revelation about Burkes Jr. was an important piece of information. There was that and what he found out after.
Crash!
He swore as he accidentally knocked over the magazine stand and instantly got a glare from Ms. Gennaro.
"Sorry," he quickly apologized for his clumsiness.
As he hurriedly tidied up the mess he made he heard a door swing open. He turned and stood up just in time to see a ruffled Minister for Magic chased out of the office by the Head Auror's intense stare. Something was horribly wrong with this picture.
"Minister," Ted greeted but the generally affable leader did not respond and seemed absentmindedly dabbing a handkerchief on his sweaty forehead.
"Mr. Potter will see you now," Ms. Gennaro announced.
He thanked Harry's assistant and went in. Was it just him or was it much hotter in there than in the waiting room?
"You have something?" Harry asked, the frown on his face still present.
Ted closed the door and told Harry what Fletcher told him.
"Burkes was a member of the POTH?" Harry repeated. "POTH?"
"Yes, POTH," he replied, disappointed that Harry didn't know what it meant either.
"Did you run it?"
Of course he did. He took out his quik notes and started from the top.
"Perth Organization for Trolls and Hags, Proponents for the Orderly Trading of Housebunnies, Purveyors of Tricks for Halloween, Pride of the Hill..."
"Wait," Harry interrupted impatiently, "Dung said Hermione founded it. Do you have anything that's even remotely possible?"
"No. Not really. But I found something else," Ted continued, "Burkes' historic timetable showed many appointments for POTH. The first entry was more than fifteen years ago and he wrote down 'Phil the Prophet Elf' next to one of them."
Ted had Harry's full and undivided attention just as the younger Auror predicted. He carried on.
"So, with his next of kin's permission, I searched Phil's belongings for anything about the POTH. There was nothing. Phil didn't keep an appointment book."
"What about Grawp?"
He was getting to that.
"Grawp did keep records, not as remote as Burkes, just over the last ten years. No mention of POTH but..."
Teddy handed Harry the documents he had been holding. The Head Auror's response was a mix of puzzlement and amusement. Okay, so maybe he was used to receiving not-so-crumpled and tidier documentation.
"Sorry," Ted blushed.
Harry unraveled the wrung up parchments as Ted waited in anticipation. Harry's eyes flew over the two pieces of paper.
"The first page has all the dates and times of POTH meetings Burkes noted down on his diary. That second page is a copy of Grawp's entries in his book, the ones that he had for those dates and times. While Burkes was in POTH meetings, Grawp was with 'Hermy'. Wasn't that how he used to call Hermione? I don't think it's a coincidence. Burkes was POTH, Phil was POTH and Grawp was POTH. It's Malvado and he's eliminating members of the POTH one after the other.
"This is it. You've found the link I was looking for," Harry patted him elatedly on the back. "Great job!"
"But I still can't figure out Borgin. He hired Montague and Bole to steal and Montague swears Borgin was working for someone else. But who and why? And we still can't prove that the robberies and the murders are connected. I just have a feeling it is."
Harry put him out of some of his misery.
"This morning I got word from Forensics that Borgin, Phil and Grawp were murdered by the same two wands that were used on Burkes. I can't tell you how right now but the robberies have something to do with the murders. And you're right. Malvado is behind the killings," Harry handed him the parchment with the Malvado symbol that Jessie saw on the wrists of the killers. Harry began to pace the length of his office then after some time turned to him with a question, "Have you told anyone else about this?"
"No."
"Is this all the documentation? No copies?"
"No copies," he confirmed.
"Good, let's keep this between us for now. I need you to do something for me."
"Anything."
His boss was going through the stuff so fast he couldn't even stop to think what it all meant.
"We have records of all known associates of Burkes' and probably Hermione's. We need Grawp's and Phil's."
"What am I looking for?"
"More names. Names of people they all knew in common and look in places you would not normally look. Dung said there were seven POTH members. We need the other three. If they're still alive we have to find them before Malvado does," Harry explained.
"Why do you think Malvado is after them?"
"I don't know but if we find one of them that would be the first question I would ask."
That and what in the name of Merlin did POTH stand for.
Ted looked up the clock. It was five to seven.
"What about the meeting? Shouldn't I be there?" he asked, not wanting to miss out on anything.
Harry was calling someone on his personal phone but looked up, must have sensed the reason for his concern and reassured him, "You don't need to be there. You already know more than the rest of the team will after that meeting is over."
He nodded but wondered what exactly the Head Auror meant by that. Harry waited for an answer, pacing again as he did, until finally someone picked up.
"Jessie, it's Harry. Where are you?"
The CFO was usually fifteen minutes early for all meetings.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Her reply seemed to have thrown off Harry somewhat but the Head Auror quickly recovered.
"I need a favour…that report on the wands and the murders that your office gave me this morning…I need you to sit on it."
Whoa! Can he do that? Can she do that? Did that just happen? There was a long pause as Jessie Hewitt's voice spilled off of Harry's receiver. He could not make out the words.
"As long as you can, at least twenty four hours…thanks."
Geez! Ted was a rookie and this was the first time he had seen Harry this way. His pulse was bounding erratically and he was anxious and excited at the same time. So this was how it was outside of the trenches. Then Harry continued in a relatively deflated tone.
"About Hermione. Did you find anything else?"
There was another pause.
"No, I didn't mean to rush you. The family wants…um…to make funeral arrangements…okay…thanks again."
The Head Auror hung up and got rid of the parchments connecting the murders and the robberies to Malvado.
"Come over to the Pitch at 8. We'll talk."
His godfather had the look of a man who was on a mission. Feeling that he was being dismissed, Ted left and headed straight to his cubicle knowing he had a lot of digging to do. He glanced over on the plate that was beside the Head Auror's office door. H. Potter.
POTH…Pot H…no…definitely a coincidence.
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Jessie had just finished a round of diagnostics on Hermione under Warren's annoyingly watchful eye. From Warren's account of the events leading up to Hermione's injury and the physical findings Jessie had a working diagnosis. The only problem was Transfigurus Abruptus Coma was a rare condition and, aside from one-of case studies which to her had iffy conclusions, there was no literature on how to manage it properly.
"It's rare," she said to him after she explained
"Understandably so," Warren replied. "I wouldn't think many have ever been caught in the midst of Transfiguring at the same time the Immobulus is being cast."
And her body had traces of other spells hitting her in and around the time, one of which was the AK. She theorized that the Immobulus had slowed down the spell propagation and mitigated the unwanted effects. What she couldn't tell was whether or not those effects had completely stopped or were merely suspended in time and the reason she was not waking up.
Warren second guessed himself, "She would have been fine on her own. I probably shouldn't have done what I did."
"You were trying to help. So, how did you switch the bodies and fooled me and Malvado into thinking it was her?" she asked Warren, trying to sound curious instead of suspicious. "From what you're telling me, you had a split second to do it."
"Sorry. A magician never reveals how he does his tricks."
This was typical Warren Gates. One minute he was okay, next minute he was back into being an ass. It was curious that for an attack that was supposedly unexpected, the switch was done seamlessly as if it had been rehearsed or planned before. Why did he have handy a dead body who was a clone of Hermione's? And if he was indeed in the vicinity of the attack to even cast the Immobulus, how come he did not confront Malvado?
She hated it when she started thinking like an Auror and she would have gone back to London already if one, she knew where she was now so she could come back with someone else and two, she wasn't sure in her gut that Warren would only hide Hermione more because of his paranoia. And the option of trying to leave with Hermione was a non-starter. In Hermione's condition, she wouldn't survive a side-along Apparition.
"Stop fucking with me, Warren."
"I'm not. You're not my type," the man replied smugly, infuriating her more, "Tell you what. If you get her to wake up and talk normal again, I'll tell you how I did the switch. How's that for incentive?"
Jessie's skin crawled from frustration. Did he really think she needed more incentive than seeing Hermione well? Ugh! She disliked the man but had to work with him to get Hermione the best care possible. She had to tell him the truth and convince him.
"She needs a real Healer."
"You just told me no one out there knows how to treat this."
"But they would at least know where to start."
"You'll be better because you'll have ideas no one has tried before."
"Probably because my ideas wouldn't make sense! Warren, are you even listening? I'm not a Healer! I can't do this! I could do more harm than good!"
"Or you may save her life! At least try! We can't risk her exposure until she can use a wand to defend herself!"
Her phone was ringing in Warren's pocket and that sufficiently broke the impasse. Warren took it out and looked at the caller ID.
"It's Harry," Warren said to her, handing the phone over. He was probably calling about the meeting she wasn't going to make. She reached out to get the phone but Warren held on to it, instructing her, "Not yet."
She stared hard at him, defiant and daring.
Warren threatened, "Don't do something that will make me curse you. Just think. The Head Auror is busy chasing after her killers and that's what he should be doing. If you tell him she's alive, he will be here watching you as I have been and waiting until she wakes up. He'll be useless. This is the last place you want him to be at."
She hated it that he actually had a point. But she'd rather have Harry here to talk some sense into the git. Harry would see her side of things, get Hermione into St. Mungo's and would have no problem dealing with the threat of Malvado coming after her. Jessie snatched the phone angrily and answered.
"Hullo…I…um…at a hospital. My sister's really sick and I don't think I can make that meeting."
She wondered if Harry would get the message. Probably not. Neither he nor Warren would know that she didn't have a sister. She never talked about her personal life.
"A favour?"
Well, why not. Maybe if she did him one he wouldn't be so pissed once he found out she was dim-witted enough to go with Warren without telling someone. Harry was asking about the Forensics report.
"What about it?"
What?! Did he just say...
"You want me to what?!" she had to turn away from Warren, "No, don't answer that, I heard you the first time! Twitching Thestrals Harry what the hell is going on? Wait, don't tell me, it's long, convoluted and something we shouldn't discuss on the phone while I'm with my sister. But really?! You've never done this before!"
Breathe…calm down…
Jessie was worried Warren would pick up on what the conversation was about but she could barely contain her reaction. Although she was sure Warren was looking after Hermione's best interests, she wasn't thick that she would let him eavesdrop on Ministry inside information.
The thing was she trusted that Harry had a good reason for leaning on her office to kowtow to his. Well, he didn't really lean. He asked properly.
"How long do you need?"
Sitting on a report for any amount of time was gross obstruction of justice. Hmm...she was already endangering a human life, so relatively speaking...what the heck. Twenty four was doable but beyond that would be a stretch.
"I'll try my best."
About Hermione. Did you find anything else?
You have no idea...
Warren was watching her like a hawk.
"I'm not finished with her and I don't appreciate being rushed…I haven't released the body. The family can't have a funeral without a body, can they?!"
Jessie called her deputy telling him she was reviewing the evidence and not to commit to the prelims at the meeting. Then she hung up pissed. They were making funeral arrangements? Those poor kids. Hermione would never forgive her if she let Rosie and Hugo mourn unnecessarily. She had to put an end to Warren's nonsense.
The Ex-Auror promptly took her phone back. Between Harry, Hermione and Warren she must have done something really wrong in a previous life to deserve being in the middle of all of this.
"Where were we?" she snarled at him.
"You were going to give it a shot."
"I'm not killing her. Let's go to Plan B."
"There's no Plan B. Why don't you just do as I ask?"
Did she really have to answer that? She gave him a 'duh' look.
"You don't trust me."
"I don't but that has nothing to do with this. She needs a Healer," she was repeating herself like a broken record.
"Okay I tried nice. I'm really sorry but you're forcing me to do this."
He had his wand out.
"You wouldn't dare!"
Jessie barely spoke the words when she felt an intrusion into her sub consciousness.
"Get out of my head, you bastard!" she tried to fight him off mentally.
"Fix her up, please," Warren's cool persuasive voice ordered her from somewhere within.
Jessie felt herself walk closer to Hermione's bed, her protests unheard by the rest of her body. Warren had control.
"Stop it!"
The words never reached her lips and her physical self carried on as Warren commanded.
"Finite Incantatem!"
She had to try but nothing happened. It couldn't be that simple. Warren was a veteran Auror and his command of the illegal Superius curse was excellent.
His voice filled her head again, "You're not leaving until she's awake or dead. Do you want to help or would you rather just watch?"
Jessie was outraged. If only she had half the wand skills Hermione had she would curse the git to hell and back.
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Harry was back at the Pitch before 8 am. The meeting went just as he thought it would. Without the evidence from Forensics and the connection with the POTH that Ted dug up, it ended sooner. But while he did not want the official investigation to touch on Hermione's, Malvado's and the Minister's involvement for the time being, he had his Aurors indirectly working on the important aspects of the case, among them, finding out who and why someone bothered to plant Borgin's dead body into a crime scene.
Impeding the discussion without being obvious was difficult. It was the first time he had done such a thing but after speaking with the Minister unofficially, it was clear that there was a need to keep a lid on many aspects of the case and to be cautious about who to trust.
In his five years as Head Auror this was the most crucial decision he had made and it gave him renewed appreciation of what his predecessors had gone through. The Minister told him in no uncertain terms that exposing the entire truth, while righteous, was counterproductive. Ministers of Magic and other top officials since Voldemort's death more than twenty years ago had been hiding the existence of the Elder Wand and the Hallows for good reason. The Hallows needed to stay mythical. Besides, the fact that the Ministry did not have possession of any one of them would throw the public into panic.
As for the Minister's involvement in the robberies, Leo had already admitted to it. Harry did not trust him one iota but hanging him out to dry right now was not in anyone's best interest. It would be a major disruption, one that he didn't need. They had a murderer to catch halfway across the globe. That fish was a bigger one to fry.
POTH…
Harry had no doubt that Hermione did put the group together. He had an inkling what the secret assembly was for and even guesses about what the acronym stood for.
Hermione had mentioned something about this a long time ago and that prompted another vivid memory of her from before they were married. Kitchen, knife, bloody tomatoes…
"He is just a piece of work! If one looked up 'git' in a reference book, his picture will be right next to it!"
Harry looked back at Hermione who was all flushed and upset, punctuating her remarks with airy motions of the knife she was using to cut tomatoes. They were in their cozy kitchen, backs to each other, making dinner. Tonight it was pasta.
"He is an Unspeakable," he replied as he gently blew on the half teaspoonful of near-ready red sauce (if she could only finish up with the tomatoes) and lifted it into her mouth to taste, "He's just curious."
She nodded in approval hastily before going off on another tirade about the Durmstrang graduate Maximus, or Max as the bloke preferred to be called. Harry instantly regretted not recognizing that he was just adding fuel to the fire.
"Curious?! He is insane! He wants to violate the Professor's tomb, take out the wand and experiment on it!" her voice broke in a few spots and she kept on brandishing the cutting instrument dangerously, "Insane!"
He had let her vent but maybe he should try and calm her down, put things in perspective.
"Kingsley and John shot his idea down right away."
"As any good Minister of Magic and Head Auror should have done," she retorted, knife banging against the cutting board, "I've said it before and I'll say it again. You can't trust them. Max and especially Leo, who may be seemingly personable on the outside but with layers of hidden agenda on the inside. The Unspeakables should have been kept out of the loop about the Hall - ow!"
She yelped and there was an instant clatter of metal on marble. He looked back and she was holding onto her left pointing finger with her right hand, blood trailing from the thinly cut slices of tomatoes.
"Fff...fuzz!"
Her unique swearing, while less frequent now than when she first got back from Hag training, had kind of grown on him.
"Here, let me."
He took over her injured hand, holding it for a bit under cold running water then pressing firmly against it with a napkin. She was a bleeder.
Hermione leaned against the counter behind as he stood in front of her holding her hand. She wasn't quite finished on the matter.
"We should Obliviate them."
He raised his brows and grinned, "Don't you think that's a bit overboard?"
She wasn't really serious, "Wishful thinking."
Hermione smiled back, calmer now.
"Do you know what we need to do?"
"You mean besides have dinner?"
He checked her wound and found it had stopped bleeding.
"We should bring the Order back together."
She meant the Order of the Phoenix. He summoned his wand, ran it over the thin scar with a quick healing spell and it disappeared. She thanked him.
"Why do you say that?" he asked, casually dropping his arms by her waist and she followed suit, both speaking seriously now.
"Just in case the Ministry messes something up," she replied.
"Hermione, we are part of the Ministry," he reminded her, "That's why we signed on. So we can change it from within. So that the Ministry will never screw up like it did in the past."
"Yes, I know and there are quite a few of us who are in it right now. But Kingsley and John won't be around forever and I can imagine Max or Leo or someone like them climbing up that political chain and being in charge. Who's going to tell them off then? Who's going to make sure they stay in line?"
She had a point but…
"If we have the system of checks and balances that Kingsley has been working on then that would be people like us who think they're gits. Maybe you should put a little faith in us."
"I guess I should," then she added philosophically, "But who's going to check up on us if we make mistakes?"
"I assume it would be someone else," he said, reaching over to the side, turning off the stove and pouring the tomato-less sauce over the awaiting pasta.
"I still think it would be a good idea to bring the Order back," she repeated, "Maybe not right now but sometime in the future and maybe name it something else."
"Like?"
She shrugged, seemingly just saying things as it came to mind, "I guess that really depends on what it will be for. Let's see…Keepers of Peace, Protagonists of Order…"
"The first one is not too bad. But the second one, I don't think so," he vetoed, laughing.
Hermione realized why and laughed too.
"What about Wizards and Witches Against the Dark?" he suggested.
"Beings Against the Dark," she corrected, with emphasis on 'Beings'.
"You should really have someone else name your organizations for you," he was teasing and she loved it when he did.
"Mr. Potter, what exactly do you mean by that?" she retorted feigning offense but Harry could already see the smirk creeping up on her lips.
It drove him crazy when she did that.
"Bad? Poo? Spew?"
"That's S-P-E-W!"
"I stand corrected," he chuckled, their close proximity and contact was evoking something within him that needed addressing. He looked down her cleavage with mischief in mind, making sure she was aware, "What about New Army to Kick Evil Dolts' arses?"
"Promising…"
Almost, but not quite. Let's see you not break a smile with this one.
"Or...Society for the Extermination, Extinction and Expunction of Dark Wizards and Witches. Sex with three Xs for short. You won't have a problem recruiting members with a name like that."
"I think you may have something there."
Then there it was, a smirk and then onto an easy smile that brought sparkles in her eyes. He loved the fact that he had that effect on her, that he made her happy. Overflowing with joy he leaned down and kissed her lips gently, pulling her closer in an embrace. She softened with his touch, the tense discussion forgotten in an instant. Her lips parted slightly under his, their warm breaths mingled and he felt her strain up against him. He sensed that she wanted to be closer.
He obliged with eagerness, his hands moving up under her blouse, his arms brushing against her hot smooth skin as he pulled her towards him even more, tipping his head slightly, deepening their kiss. Mmm...
"What about...dinner?" she managed to say against his mouth.
"Going...for some...antipasto..."
Her fingers found and tangled with his hair. Dazed and crazed with desire, he pulled her top off of her and kissed her harder. She moaned while she welcomed his tongue with hers in a slow warm caress. Lifting her up, her legs wrapped around his waist and she pressed herself up against his highly sensitive groin area. Merlin…she was undressing him…shirt…belt…button…paaants…at this rate they would never...uh...make it out of the ki-kitchen.
They never did make it out of the kitchen that night. The memories of her had been coming steadily since Hugo came last night, as if the shock of their son's revelation had unlocked some long sealed vault in the deep recesses of his mind. He fought off the tears that wanted to break out and tried to focus on something else.
POTH…his bet was on the H being Hallows…maybe Protectors of the Hallows or something like that…did they at one point acquire all three, stole the wand and the stone a long time ago, found his cloak which he thought had been lost forever, and were protecting them? Was that what Malvado was looking for? Why Burkes, Grawp and Phil? Why not him or Ron?
…and who else did you ask?
While it was his case to solve Harry wasn't arrogant to think that he could do it alone. It was good that Ron made it to the meeting in the morning for he was the guy Harry relied on the most to help with this. That is, if he could get past the fact that his ex-wife's son was his brother-in-law's.
Harry marched through and pulled the Potter library doors close, feeling the several pairs of expectant eyes upon him. He took his place in front of the huge oak desk, leaning on it as he appraised the group of Ministry wizards and witches he had chosen to bring together and trust.
The seats had been arranged in a semi-circular pattern atop a rectangular rug of Gryffindor colors but most remained standing. Starting from his right: Padma Patil-Boot, a schoolmate and now Senior Unspeakable with the Ministry with whom he had worked with on many cases in the past; Ernie Macmillan, also in his year at Hogwarts, one of the top officers in the Magical Law Enforcement Squad; George Bones, Lead Auror for the East quadrant, a relative of a classmate and of a former MLE Head; Ted and Ron. He would have invited Jessie too but she was with an ill sister. He would fill her in later.
This would be the core group. It was quite possible, highly likely, that it could grow over the next few days.
"Thank you all for coming," he said, "You were all at the meeting earlier. I know some of you sensed something was amiss and I apologize for the charade but it was necessary. What I'm about to tell you is information that is highly sensitive in nature. I have chosen you because I have utmost confidence that you will keep this amongst yourselves and share in the burden of ensuring that it does not fall into the wrong hands. If you think you don't belong here I understand and you may leave now."
He looked into the eyes of each person before him and was pleased with what he saw. Not a muscle budged. They were all in.
Harry continued, "We have a situation."
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A/N. I know Warren wasn't very nice. Still good?
Hope you enjoyed the HHr insert - it was kind of last minute and probably borne out of reading all the smut from the kiwimelon15 challenge - LOL!
The Ron-Harry thing almost made it here but the chapter's now too long. It'll be in the next.