Disclaimer: JKR owns.
Lost Daughter
Chapter 24: Moth Man Revealed
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Hermione called for the class before her to settle down. The sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins had arrived a couple of minutes ago, during which Hermione had tried to set up the chalk board behind her to reflect the day's lesson. She smiled at them as everyone's attention settled on her- she could remember back to Professor McGonagall giving this same lesson to her, Ron, and Harry back in their sixth year. It had been one of their favourites.
She nodded back to the chalkboard where the headline `Animagi' was spelled boldly at the top, "So what do we know about animagi? Anyone care to start us off?"
The class was quiet. A smile still adorned Hermione's face as she looked to the back row. Mia was there scribbling away at piece of parchment, probably doing the homework Hermione had assigned for that night. She wasn't offended; she had given Amia permission to work on their advanced lessons in this period. Sometimes though she couldn't help but look to her for the questions she knew the girl could answer. Call it a mother's pride…
The rest of the class remained voiceless.
Hermione took a couple of steps closer to the desks, "Come on, don't be shy. What is an animagus? Miss Temple, care to guess?"
Tabitha Temple, a sixth year Gryffindor, turned red and shoved the note she had been passing between her and Amanda Zobair, another Gryffindor, under her book. Hermione's face remained gentle but the girl looked nervous under her gaze.
"Er, an animagus is a wizard or witch who can transform into an animal, right?"
"Correct," Hermione grinned, "A witch or wizard who can transform from their natural human form into their animal essence. Do you think you get to choose which kind of animal you transform into?"
Tabitha tried to covertly glance around the class, "Um, yes?"
"No they can't, it's tied into their magical signature," charged a Slytherin boy from the other side of the room. Half the class- the green and silver side- erupted into quiet sniggers.
"Mr. Eghert is correct- thank you for raising your hand; Your animal embodiment is predetermined for you. Everyone has an animal essence entangled in his or her magic but that does not mean it is easily attainable," Hermione said, starting to pace in front of her students.
"Transforming into an animagi form can take years to perfect. It is different than saying a spell to transform into an animal- that is why, I'm sad to say, we will only be discussing the theory behind animagi. We won't be learning the process of transformation."
Hermione chuckled as a loud chorus of groans sounded throughout the room, "But that doesn't mean you can't look into it yourselves… preferably after graduation," she added to the sounds of additional complaint, "The last thing this school needs is a bunch of unregistered student animagi running around…"
Hermione was still grinning in amusement at the student's reaction when her eyes passed naturally over Mia way in the back. The girl happened to look up as she saw her, a smile also on her face.
Suddenly, a scene flashed before Hermione's eyes and sirens exploded in her head-
Harry was in front of her. They were both heated from the argument they were having. Hermione watched unaware of the impact of his action as Harry slammed a trainer against the wall. The moth fell to the ground, immediately changing form…
The moth animagus from Boston- he had transformed into an adult man. And if this man had been a trained animagi wasn't there a very real possibility that he could've been registered?
Hermione, immediately overcome with emotions, felt light headed as her eyes looked up and across the young faces staring up at her. Unintentionally they landed on Amia, still quietly working on matters unrelated to Hermione's breakthrough.
"Professor?" a voice called from the abyss.
"What?" Hermione could only whisper.
A Gryffindor boy- along with the rest of the class- was giving Hermione a confused, peculiar look.
"I asked how long the transformation process took?" the boy repeated himself unsurely.
Hermione opened her mouth to answer him but stopped short. She knew there was a registry for animagi somewhere in the Ministry of Magic. Surely if she had Harry with her, they'd have clearance to go look. How many moth animagi could there possibly be? And if they did narrow down registered moths, that could give a name, maybe even a picture, of the registered wizard… the same wizard that had been so broken and disabled from Harry's crushing. If they knew who the moth man was or where to find him- given he'd survived his injuries all those years ago- then what else could that lead them to…
Mia was now also looking up at Hermione from her spot at the back table. She looked more worried by Hermione's internal interruption than the rest of the students.
"The… the learning process depends on the witch or wizard. Some can master their forms in months, for some it takes years. The difficult part is retaining your human state-of-mind…"
Don't draw attention to yourself… deep breath… Act normal… deep breath…
Class would be out in forty-five minutes and lunch would be after. Despite the instinct she had striking up rapid fire within her to run form the classroom and to immediately floo over to the Ministry, she knew she had to remain casual. If not for the sake of the thirty or so students sitting curiously in front of her, then for Amia's. She didn't want to risk looking but she could tell the girl's eyes were planted on her. She had to remain calm.
She could hang on for forty-five minutes in order to not cause a panic. She could wait forty-five minutes before going to find her answers.
...
Harry crumpled up the last copy of reports he'd requested to read through for that day, chucking it angrily into the bin next to his desk. The ball of parchment hit the top of the rubbish can but bounced off the already overflowing pile of useless reports and rolled onto the floor.
He glared angrily at the rubbish bin. He'd spent three hours doing entry level auror work- reading over field reports- just to see if his fellow men had found anything. Every single mission had come up with nothing.
Still glaring, he rubbed at his eyes aggressively. He hadn't slept much the past night. Yesterday, after coming up with nothing to go off of from the Department of Mysteries besides the odd encounter with that unspeakable, he hadn't much else to try and research about Amia's possible followers.
It was frustrating having nothing to go off. All of the press conferences had informally wrapped up around midnight last night. Randomly tips would come through the Auror Headquarters via owl. Every memo they received about a possible lead was looked into by a team of aurors until the point where every auror on the force was involved with the Hogsmeade case. However, every team came back with mere rumors and superstitions. There was nothing concrete. Every possibility had turned into a dead end. Harry had nothing solid on the whereabouts of his daughter's attackers. He had no clue of their identities, if there was more of them, or if they were planning on striking again.
All he wanted was something tangible; whether that meant someone to catch or somewhere to search. He was desperate for something that would actually let him protect Amia. At this point though, they were stagnant.
Going home had been difficult too. It took a lot for him to leave the office but after a certain point, it was worthless being there. His first impulse had been to travel back to Hogwarts but after remembering his row with Hermione earlier, he knew he couldn't go back tonight. He could admit with some guilt that seeing Ginny wasn't exactly high on his list of wants but home was the only place left for him to go. Luckily when he had arrived at the Potter house, nobody was home.
Instead of wondering where his wife was, he had gone to bed and succumbed to a fitful night of sleep. It was like his body could sense that he had someone better to sleep next to the night before. Alone in his wife's bed wasn't exactly comfortable but he fell asleep eventually.
Now back at work his weariness was getting to him. They still had no new information about the identities of the Hogsmeade attackers. Harry had nothing else to do besides sit in his office, scratching his head and rubbing at his eyes, hoping and praying for a solid lead to be filtered through his office.
What kind of a father was he? Making promises to a daughter that didn't know she was his, promises that they both knew he probably couldn't keep. No wonder Hermione was the least bit impressed with him. What did he have to offer her?
There was a knock on the door. Rockleigh's face appeared.
"Pardon me for the interruption sir but someone's here to see you- she said it was important…"
Harry stood up from his desk as the door opened wider to reveal Hermione standing a foot or so behind his intern. Her eyes were wide with emergency.
"Hermione-"
"Do you have a minute?"
Harry nodded her inside, "Yeah come in. Dawber, no interruptions."
The young auror glanced at Hermione as she walked past him but if he had any misgivings about his boss's situation, he didn't voice them. He nodded curtly at Harry and closed the door.
Once they were alone Harry turned to examine Hermione. She was wringing her hands, looking nervous but noticeably stimulated.
"Has something happened? Mia?"
She started frantically, "It happened in class today… I-I don't know where it came from but bloody hell it could all be there…"
Harry frowned, "What could be there? Hermione what are you talking about?"
"I was teaching them about animagi Harry, and then the registry came up and I looked at her and…"
There were tears in her eyes now so Harry came forward to comfort her. He grasped her shoulders, pulling her forward but keeping her at a distance. His eyes calculated hers intensely. They stood there like that for a moment: Harry looking at her concerned and Hermione looking up at him like a lost puppy.
Suddenly, Hermione reached up and wiped at her eyes, the connection broken. "I need your help Harry. I need you to come with me to the Improper Use of Magic Office. I tried already but they won't let just anyone walk in and look through the registry."
"Who are we looking for?" Harry asked. Saying no to her was out of the question.
"Seventeen years ago you smashed a moth on the wall of our bedroom… I don't know why we didn't think of this before."
And just like it had with Hermione, the wheels turned and clicked together in Harry's head. He sucked in a harsh breath.
…
Getting to Level 2 of the Ministry was easy and unproblematic. Once they were inside the actual Misuse office, the witch that had denied Hermione access before wilted at seeing Harry now with her.
"Go right on in- take your time," the young girl told him with a manufactured smile.
Hermione glared at the girl but Harry pulled her along with him, back to a door marked `ARCHIVE' in the far corner of the small office.
Harry closed the door firmly once they were both inside. The animagi registry wasn't hard to pick out but was heavy for Hermione to pick up and lay down on the old rickety desk in the room. Dust shot into the air as the book landed with a loud `thud'. It was clear that nobody had touched it in quite some time.
The registry was a tome about two feet thick. For its obvious age it looked to be in well-kept condition. Harry and Hermione didn't complain about the size and instead tore into the book with lightening speed. Unfortunately it was sorted alphabetically by name. Since they had no clue who they were looking for, that left them to search for every animagus marked as an arthropoda insecta Lepidoptera, or most commonly known, a moth. It had taken them a while to piece together the Latin but once they had they were scouring through the registry with urgency.
Time was passing so slowly and a half hour later they were just finishing with the A's. Some of the names went back to wizards who had died during the 17th century- so far none of them were insects.
"This is going to take ages," Harry muttered under his breath.
Hermione prodded him with her shoulder as she stepped in front of the book. Her finger started trailing under the listings of animalia, "Just keep looking."
Harry sighed but obeyed, his eyes trailing after her finger. He couldn't lie; even though the process was turning out to be painstakingly slow, he didn't mine being so close to Hermione again.
As her finger came to the end of the page, he flipped to the next side. Despite their argument yesterday, she had still come to him. The thought that she wasn't completely giving up on him made him feel light headed. He inched closer as they started at the top of the next page. Maybe it wasn't so bad how long this was taking… Harry could calm down enough to relish it.
They had come to the end of the B's with still no luck. Hermione checked her watch.
"My break is almost over," she whispered tensely.
"Isn't there a spell we can use to search for a moth?"
She shook her head, "We'd have to find one use of it first. Plus I'm not even sure if the Latin is correct. It could be a different scientific name. Damn it," she cursed herself quietly as they came to the end of the first C page, ending on a Tahoma Cadley.
Harry's hand came around her side and squeezed her hip gently, "Stop beating yourself up," he said softly. Hermione's eyes turned left to look at him. The vulnerability there made it obvious that she was just now realizing how close they had been working. As Harry turned the next page he practically had his arms around her. It was as if their heated words yesterday had never even happened.
Hermione turned back to the registry, trying to tell herself to focus. Her eyes trailed down the page, following Harry's finger. As he approached the end of the list, Hermione grabbed the paper and turned the page.
"Ouch," she gasped, her eyebrows narrowing at the drop of blood escaping from a little cut on her index finger. "Paper cut," she mumbled feebly.
Harry had his wand out immediately. Instead of healing it though, he transfigured a small quill on the desk into a tissue. Grabbing her hand gently, he touched the tissue to her cut.
"Better?"
Hermione pulled her eyes away from his fingers caressing hers, "Um, yeah."
"Clumsy `Mione," Harry chided her playfully, reaching down to wipe off a drop of blood that had fallen on the book.
Hermione was looking at him almost mesmerized by what he'd just called her. She felt herself slipping down hill fast but she stopped and refocused as Harry's face went rigid.
"H-Hermione…"
"What?" She looked down to where his eyes were staring wide and in awe. The tissue holding bandage against her paper-cut fell from her grip. Her breathing picked up.
"Look at the registration date!" Harry said, his finger slamming down at the date inline with arthropoda insecta Lepidoptera.
July 5, 1992. It fit perfectly.
"He's still alive," Harry's voice, now much harsher sounding, said next. There was no deceased marked anywhere on this line, like there had been with some of the other names.
Hermione's eyes closed as she let out a shaky breath, "Do you think it's him?"
Harry checked the man's date of birth. He would've been about 22 years old when he met up with him. The image of a blonde, bloodied and broken face flashed before his eyes. The man definitely could've been 22.
"It says he studied at Durmstrang. But he was four years older than us. I don't see how we ever could've met…"
Harry shook his head darkly, "Probably didn't have to."
Hermione turned to get a proper look at Harry. She knew what his words meant and it made her heart break for him. A personal vendetta wasn't necessary where Harry Potter was concerned.
The tears were back in her eyes but that didn't stop her from asking, "Harry, can you find this man?"
Harry looked up to meet her gaze. Could he? He couldn't bare the thought of making another empty promise to her…
Instead he asked, "Can you check now for other moths?"
Hermione bit her lip as she turned back to the registry. She pulled out her wand and traced it lightly over the Latin term. The three words glowed neon yellow. Hermione whispered something under her breath causing the whole book to illuminate. It only took a couple seconds and when the glowing stopped, Harry and Hermione both stepped forward with interest.
The page hadn't turned. Along with the original arthropoda insecta Lepidoptera, only one more was highlighted on the same page.
"He must've been a relative," Hermione concluded, "Look, it says he died centuries ago."
"So this is the only one we have to go off of?" Harry clarified.
Hermione drew in another deep breath, "Harry, I think this is him. We at least have to check."
They both looked back down to the registry page, their eyes intently focused on the name at the far left of the line, a name that neither Harry nor Hermione recognized.
Ambrose Casteel, who are you?
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Next chapter: Harry and Hermione try to clear up the air and Rose is catching on to her mother's behavior.
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