A/N. More mini flashbacks. More about the Morpheus Gaunt case. IMO, Harry got very bad advice from Professor Dumbledore's portrait about what to do with the Deathly Hallows.
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Chapter 7 - The Missing Wand
Harry had to rouse a somewhat vexed Headmistress Vector from sleep to get her blessing to visit the tomb of Albus Dumbledore. It took a while for the former Arithmancy Professor to understand what it was he wanted to do and it did not help that he couldn't explain the real reason why he had to and why at such an unholy hour.
But seeing who he was she couldn't really refuse. She made it clear too why she was allowing it before sending him to the lakeshore on his own. When he got to the place where the former Hogwarts Headmaster had been laid to rest, he immediately scanned for the wooden weapon's signature. His fears were confirmed. The Elder wand was no longer there.
Hermione had warned him about the decision to leave the wand with the Professor years ago. After the Gaunt case, when it became clear that the story of the Wand of Destiny had extended beyond legend and acquired interest from a rather significant evil following, she had told him to use it, destroy it, or find somewhere else to hide it forever.
"I thought you said it's just a wand."
He was sitting on the side of her bed, his body angled in her direction. She was in St. Mungo's Critical Care Unit and had been for the last three weeks, still pale and weak, recovering from the significant injuries she suffered during the final Gaunt confrontation. This was the first time they were talking about the case.
"It is and it isn't," she answered vaguely.
He raised his eyebrows and dared her to make up her mind.
"Fine. I was wrong. It isn't just a wand," she finally admitted, "You can stop gloating now."
"Just give me one more minute…," he teased.
She did not find it amusing and she seemed to be all business, actually impatient, maybe even pissed. It was like she didn't really want to talk. It may have been because she was still in St. Mungo's. He heard that she had wanted to go home since yesterday, the morning after she awoke from the Gaunt-induced coma.
"Are you all right?" he had to ask.
"I'm fine," she dismissed too quickly.
"It's just that yesterday…"
"Forget yesterday," she cut him off and wanted him to drop it.
Yesterday she lost it. Understandably so after the overwhelming information she got about the aftermath of the Gaunt case. What worried him was that she wasn't talking about it; not to him, not to Ron, not to Ginny and not to the Healers. He could see her gritting her teeth as a sad memory flit across her brown eyes, willing herself not to cry. Never in all the time he had known her had he remembered her closed up like this to the rest of them. It was unusual and he, Ginny and Ron realized last night that Hermione had never been this troubled and in need of 'help' before. She was the strong one, the one always in control who figured everything out.
"About Dean…"
"Let's not talk about him."
"You should, if not with me then with someone else. It will help."
"I appreciate the advice but I already have a shrink."
It was worth a try. The biting sarcasm towards him was a rarity. It struck him how this conversation was familiar except in the past it was the other way around. Without a shadow of a doubt she was telling him to back off. For now he would. It had only been two days since she found out.
"The wand. We should do something about the wand."
He didn't want to talk about the wand but it seemed it was the only thing she would converse about.
"It's done," he tried to reassure her. "It's back where it belongs."
"You are its master. It belongs with you or with no one at all. It's a big thing to be owner of the Elder Wand. You can't just leave it in a tomb with a dead wizard no matter how fitting you think that is."
"Why are you so concerned about it? It was good enough after Voldemort died."
"After Voldemort died very few knew what the Deathstick was and even fewer knew where it was hidden. If Gaunt found out and took it, what's to prevent another wizard or witch to do the same thing?"
"We've added more security measures."
"Protective spells can always be broken," she pointed out, "The tomb has been broken into twice!"
"You worry too much."
"Someone should. The wand is a symbol of power and whether it has a master or not is irrelevant. Many will want it because of what it is and when it doesn't work the way they think it should, they're going to do what Voldemort did to Snape and what Gaunt did to you, attempt to get its loyalty by defeating its last known owner."
"You saw Gaunt disarm me. The wand may not even regard me as its master anymore."
"Don't say that!" she exclaimed, absolutely horrified at the thought.
"Well it could be true."
And a good thing now that Gaunt was dead, he wanted to add but held back knowing it would upset her more.
"You don't know that for a fact. Nobody does and that won't stop others from challenging you."
"Not much I can do about that."
"But that's what I'm saying. There is something you can do," she opined then with certainty told him what to do, "You should destroy it, and in public."
"Have you gone mad?!" he looked at her as if she was an imposter, "It's a magical artifact."
She shrugged, "What do you care if it's ruined or buried out of sight forever?"
"It has lots of history."
"Bad history."
"Not entirely. It did a lot of good when it was Professor Dumbledore's. It stood up against Voldemort, prevented him from hurting more people and it saved my life."
"The wand is more trouble than it's worth. Just imagine if someone like Voldemort or Gaunt gained complete control of it. There's no good reason for its existence now unless you have intentions of using it again. "
Hermione had an excellent point.
"I don't. But I can't destroy it. It belongs to the Peverells."
He was a descendant after all and he had already lost the other two Peverell heirlooms, one of them unintentionally. The expression on his face must have showed it for Hermione seemed to understand why he couldn't.
"It's just wrong to leave it where it is right now. I can't believe the Minister agreed to put it back and I can't believe the Unspeakables allowed it without a thorough examination," she said out loud and looked like she was thinking of alternatives he might find acceptable, "If you don't want to get rid of it you should use it like the Professor did. Or at least hide it somewhere nobody will ever find it."
It was obvious that she was not going to let go but he didn't want to make any promises when the decision wasn't really up to him anymore. He lost the privilege when the Ministry found out it existed. Hermione knew this fact all too well.
"I'll talk to the Minister about it," he compromised.
There was a knock on the open door. Her Healer.
"She should get her rest," she politely reminded them.
"He was just about to leave anyway," she said before he could beg for a few more minutes.
Harry could tell that he was being dismissed.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he said to her as he got up and leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead.
On his way out she called out to him.
"I forgot to tell you yesterday. Congratulations."
After that conversation he did follow up with the Minister to discuss moving the notorious lumber but was flat out turned down. He easily let the idea go. At that time he truly felt the Hogwarts tomb of its former Master was the most secure place for it.
He was obviously wrong. The crypt had shown no recent signs of tampering and whoever took the wand did so many years ago. Granting that the moniker 'Master of Death' was common and could mean anything, pieces of the giant puzzle were coming into place.
Again, he did not believe in coincidence and the last time he encountered the term 'Master of Death' was during the Morpheus Gaunt case. Caractakus Burke Sr. had hired thieves to find and retrieve the Peverell family trophies and 'Jean Peverell' was brought in to work the case from the inside. They eventually foiled the quest to unite Antioch's Wand of Destiny, Cadmus' Resurrection Stone and Ignotus' Cloak of Invisibility.
He lost possession of his invisibility cloak during that same case and while he was almost sure that it was lost forever he didn't have proof. As far as he knew the stone was in a DOM vault. But now that the wand was missing he doubted it was still where it was supposed to be and would have to confirm. It was conceivable that someone finally had physical possession of all three Deathly Hallows. Maybe the deceased thief had found them for this Master of Death.
On his way back to the castle he went past the old Hogwarts groundskeeper's hut uninhabited since Rubeus Hagrid, a good friend and former professor, passed away ten years ago of natural causes. No one would have thunk then that his half brother, Grawp, would become an activist for equal rights for fellow giants or become a murder victim for that matter.
Harry had seen these slayings too often, noticeably more since magical beings were brought back under the Ministry's jurisdiction. Hate crimes had steadily increased and if Muggle history was to be their yardstick about how integration would go, it was not going to be better any time soon. Grawp's death was a definite loss to the cause as was Hermione's.
Goodbye Jean Peverell…
It still didn't make complete sense.
In the years since Hogwarts he had not felt completely isolated and on his own until now. He mulled briefly about having a talk with Professor Dumbledore's portrait but he had imposed Headmistress Vector enough. And besides, there were more urgent matters to attend to in London.
Thinking about the Professor did remind him of a conversation inside a spider infested shed at the Burrow. He needed his closest friends and he still had Ron.
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As all of Britain woke up to unconfirmed reports of the death of Hermione Granger, Jessie Hewitt was back in her London lab. She had not slept much. The Aurors kept on sending her dead bodies she had to delegate much of the work to her already stressed out staff. Hermione's case she had to handle personally.
While unspoken, people in the know were privy to the reason why the Ministry had not yet confirmed her death. It had certainly not been a first for Aurors and those higher up in the Ministry to succumb to a disfiguring injury that prevented visual identification. But there was compelling evidence that the body she brought back from Asia was Hermione. Everything fit and matched, albeit too perfectly.
She had an assistant reconstruct the crime scene and found out traces of recent anti-Disapparition wards, the likely reason why Hermione could not get out at the time of the attack. Cause of death was hard to determine as everything happened within seconds of each other. It was consoling to know that the end had been instantaneous. On further analysis of the tissue remains three known magical signatures registered - Hermione's, Warren Gates' and the one they knew to be that of Salazar Malvado's. It was just as expected and she made the Minister aware.
The scientist in her would have called it hours ago but she was waiting to look at the Muggle CT rendering of the internal contents and injuries within the body. One would think that over the years Muggle contraptions would be able to do things faster regardless of the complexity of the information she desired but such was not the case.
Jessie looked at the parchment before her that was awaiting her signature.
Death certificate - Hermione Jean Granger
Jessie wished Harry ID'd Hermione so she wouldn't have to. She and Hermione had been friends for almost two decades. It was hard to believe that Hermione was gone and harder to be the one to have the final word that she was.
She took a neat stack of papers from the front of her desk and put it on top of the official death document. Harry had called a 7 am debriefing on the happenings of the past twenty four hours and that was thirty minutes away. Opening the files she sat back and read her staff's preliminaries on the three vics the Aurors brought in overnight.
Jessie had read it once already and wanted another look but she found it difficult to concentrate. Her thoughts kept coming back to the day she and Hermione first met. She had been with the Ministry Forensics office almost six months and was on her last week of orientation.
It was Ginny who introduced them.
"Hermione!" her flat mate squealed from the front entrance.
Hermione Granger's arrival in their London apartment was totally unexpected. Jessie dried the dish she had in her hand, headed out of the kitchen and stood at the doorway that led into the living room. Ginny Weasley was in the foyer hugging the brown haired woman Jessie had seen in pictures. Hermione was also all smiles and hugging back.
"You should have Owled that you were coming home!" Ginny ushered her in.
"I had no time. When the hag told me my training was done I had to get out before she changed her mind again. I missed everyone so terribly."
"We missed you too. Welcome home. I can't believe it's been eight months."
"How's Harry?"
"Fine," Ginny said quickly.
"And Ron?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"He had a rough couple of months after you broke up with him but he's surviving life without you," Ginny answered the question about her brother who was an Auror for the North Quadrant. She hesitated a bit then added, "He's seeing someone else."
"Good," Hermione nodded, seemingly genuinely relieved.
Jessie didn't want to intrude and kind of felt awkward. They finally noticed her and she introduced herself, intending to make a swift exit and give the best friends privacy to catch up.
"Hi, Jessie Hewitt, Ginny's flat mate."
"Hermione Granger, her ex-flat mate."
They shook hands.
"Pleased to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you."
"It's nice to meet you too," Hermione replied politely.
"Jessie works for the Ministry. She's with Forensics."
"Are you a tech?"
"Don't call her a tech," Ginny cautioned, "It's a pet peeve of hers and she can get emotional about it."
"I kind of prefer crime analyst but hey, we just met so I won't give you the third degree," she had ranted once and Ginny never forgot that she did.
"I'm sorry," Hermione apologized, unsure if they were pulling her leg or not, "I definitely won't make that mistake again. I guess we'll be working together."
"Looking forward to it," Jessie was, having heard that Hermione was one of the best on the force. "Well, I'll go back to my dishes, give you guys time to catch up."
"You're doing no such thing," Ginny didn't let her go easily, "Get dressed. We're going out."
Hermione pointed out the time, "Ginny, it's ten o'clock."
"Then it's early. Screw bedtime. Your training is over."
"I have an early meeting tomorrow," Jessie didn't really want to spend Wednesday night out.
"I have to report to work too," Hermione echoed. "I just dropped by to say hi."
Ginny rolled her eyes in frustration.
"You two are going to be bored when I go."
"Go where?" Hermione didn't know.
Ginny grinned from ear to ear, "I finally got called up. You are looking at Ginny Weasley, professional Quidditch player, starting Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies."
"Congratulations!" Hermione screamed and threw herself at Ginny; Jessie noticed she was a natural at that. "Since when?"
"I got the word a month ago. We agreed to terms last Friday and I leave for Wales in a week. The starting pay is not much but if I do well the first year..."
"Who cares about the money? You're finally going to get what you've worked your butt off all these years," Hermione put it in perspective, mentioning how "That's really great, Gin. I'm so happy for you."
"I know it's great except I won't get to see much of you guys or the rest of the family for most of the year."
"Don't be silly. We'll always be around," Hermione said to her. "And we'll go watch your games."
"That's what I kept telling her. Not many get to live their dream."
"Jessie's right. Don't let us or anyone else hold you back from getting what you want."
"Stop beating a dead horse. I did sign up already. But we are going out tonight to celebrate and I'm not taking no for an answer. I need some serious partying before I go. Merlin only knows if Holyhead, Wales has any kind of nightlife to be had," Ginny paused and ordered, "So you, go get dressed."
Jessie had actually been to one too many celebrations but knew it would be futile to refuse, "Fine. But I trust you to watch my tequila count and not allow me make a bloody fool of myself again."
"Oh, hush! Don't tell me you didn't enjoy the snogging you initiated with that man at the bar. He gave you his number. You should really call him back," Ginny told her straight and then explained to Hermione, "She's wound up tight just like you are."
"I'm getting dressed," Jessie announced, got up and headed for her room.
"Good. I've got one week to teach you two how to have some fun. You're both going to miss me," Ginny called out after her flat mate smiling.
"Harry must be so proud and so excited for you," Jessie heard Hermione say to Ginny, "Is he working tonight?"
Jessie paused at her doorway before shutting it, wanting to hear Ginny's answer to this question.
"I wouldn't know. I haven't really talked to him in a while," Ginny's said evenly, though Jessie knew she was still torn up about the whole thing, "I...um...broke up with Harry two months ago."
"You what?!"
That night and the days before her flat mate left for fame and glory, Jessie found out first hand what kind of a friend Hermione was to Ginny. Had she not known otherwise Jessie would have guessed they were sisters who got along very well. It was a shame that they lost the friendship because they fell in love with the same man.
Jessie didn't take sides and neither really asked her to. As far as she was concerned it was Harry's fault; it usually was the man's. But of the two in the past few years it had been Hermione who she had been closer to, maybe because she felt Hermione needed her more than Ginny did. After all, after the 'affair' (which in her opinion wasn't really one) Harry did choose to stay married to Ginny. Ginny had Harry and Hermione, well, she had Hugo.
With Hermione's death she wondered if Hugo had told Harry yet. She could only hope that his father would do the right thing this time around.
An interoffice mail alerted her of the availability of the scan results. She accessed the life-size rendering from a computer and looked from top to bottom, left to right, system to system. Hermione's last medical file on record verified the findings. Everything was in order.
Sign it off. The sooner you do the sooner the family can mourn.
Jessie found a quill amongst the papers and dipped it into the well. The parchment before her was waiting for a signature.
Sign it. Everything is there.
Everything is there.
Everything is there.
Shoot!
Jessie gathered up her notes. She headed for Harry's office hoping to have a word with him before the meeting but on her way out, a figure burst out seemingly from nowhere and blocked the exit.
It was a silvery grey wolf, a Patronus, one she knew belonged to Warren Gates.
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A/N. To put the two flashbacks in perspective, Jessie's happened before Harry's. And the Dean Harry mentioned is Dean Thomas.