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The Brewmaster's Mystery
By Mutt N Feathers

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Category: Post-Hogwarts
Characters:Harry/Ginny
Genres: Drama
Warnings: Sexual Situations
Story is Complete
Rating: R
Reviews: 150
Summary: MMB is growing, Charlie and Seph are about to be parents and Harry and Ginny will be wed in mere months; life appears to be perfect. But when unexplained failures begin occurring around the brewery, Harry can't help but wonder if something is afoot.
Hitcount: Story Total: 88148; Chapter Total: 2414





Author's Notes:
Hi all, here's another chapter; the first of five which will solve the mystery! The song is by Avril Lavinge, I think we all need to freak out once in a while. You can follow me on Twitter now, MNFeathers. I give updates, ask questions, ect. Come and join me! Thanks to Peter for betaing. MNF




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Chapter 29:
Freak Out

June 16, 2000
Bath, Somerset

Charlie POV:


I lay in the chaise, specially charmed to support my injured arm and shoulder, out on our patio in Bath. I was feeling better, although not well enough to return to work. The healer said I would be at least six weeks off work. I couldn’t imagine being away for that long, but I needed to heal. At least if I had to be laid up, this was the perfect place to be. Seph had inherited her mother’s apartment in Bath, or so her family believed. What they didn’t realise was that Elizabeth Engelsley owned the entire building. It had been a single family dwelling when purchased by her great-grandfather in 1816. Elizabeth’s father had made it into several apartments in 1896, to raise funds through monthly rental payments. It had been Elizabeth’s desire to return it to its original splendour. She dropped the idea due to her daughters’ behaviour after her husband’s death; it repulsed her. Seph had been the only daughter to visit and write regularly as well as sort through the mess of the family finances. Elizabeth only trusted her youngest with something so important to her and her ancestors.

Seph and I spent all of yesterday on our double-wide chaise -- something Harry charmed for us -- looking at old photo albums. Molly and Ginny had wanted to help out by taking the kids; we didn’t argue. Seph was exhausted from caring for me, since there was little I could do for myself.

I knew she was close to Harry’s parents, but I discovered just how close while we looked at the pictures. There were many more photos of her with James Potter when she was young, very young. The pictures of her with “Jamie,” as she called him, were candid shots, full of smiles and laughter and shared affection. The ones with her sisters were always staged, the smiles forced. No wonder she didn’t like spending time with her sisters, it looked as if they were never close.

She’d explained that Mrs. Potter, or MummyP as she called her, began taking care of her at about six months old, when her mother needed to go to work in the shop on Diagon Alley to keep it solvent. Seph and James were nearly always together when they were small and she spent so much time at the Potters’ house she had her own room there.

Sirius showed up when the pair were about five. The trio were like the Three Musketeers; getting into trouble and then paying the price, together. It’s no wonder the guys were known as the Marauders, the only surprise being Seph’s absence in their infamous school group. As they aged, others joined until all eight brewery founders were assembled. One particularly poignant picture was of the founding members, long before they’d even thought of it. They were at the Potters’, in the garden, girls lying on towels sunbathing, and the boys in the tree not far away. James was looking at Lily as if she were the most wonderful thing in the world. It was obvious he was smitten. Seph had let Harry have that particular one to keep for himself.

Life here in Bath had been enjoyable, if a bit odd. The men had been going to work everyday, and then Apparating back to Bath, often taking multiple-stop trips to make sure they weren’t followed. George had chosen to stay in his flat over the shop. Only the women had been threatened, so he felt safe staying there. My little brother still seemed to be struggling with Fred’s death. I couldn’t even contemplate what it felt like to lose half of yourself.

The Muggle brewery was of great concern to Harry, even with the increased Auror presence. He wouldn’t let Hermione or Luna come in to help. While Luna hadn’t been targeted, whoever this Tormentor is acts like a Death Eater. If that was the mode of operation, then it wouldn’t be beyond him to go after the people Harry was closest to. Luna was certainly in that category. The women had all taken off from their jobs, the death threat being a good enough reason for their employers. Hermione, Fleur and Seph weren’t happy, although the two mothers accepted more time with their children, happily. Hermione argued her case the last two evenings until she was overwrought. I couldn’t understand her frustration, she was spending her time at a spa, while still collecting her pay. To me it seemed like a win-win situation.

The only woman still working was Ginny, as the Quidditch finals tournament had started, and she had been called up from the reserves to the playing squad due to injuries. When she went, Bill and Harry escorted her and there were Aurors and the usual team security there. The Harpies had been quick to increase their security as well. The corridor that led to the girls’ dressing room was now closed to everyone but the team and a few select members of the training staff. The entrance was charmed to accept only the magical signature with the corresponding body measurements. Even if someone stole one of the girls’ wands, they wouldn’t get through without being the exact body size. Bill had also convinced them to use some Muggle technology called fingerprint scanning. I was surprised how quickly the team agreed.

My wife tried valiantly to hide it, but the events of the last few weeks were taking a toll on her. Even in the midst of the last war, she’d never stopped working. She took a mere six or so days off when she had Connor; after that he just came with her. She felt it was wrong for her to be safely tucked away while her workers were exposed to a threat. While Harry vouched for the abilities of the magical employees, she wanted to be there for her Muggle ones.

Voices from behind me alerted me someone had arrived in our flat. It wasn’t all that surprising as we had the largest apartment, encompassing the entire top floor of the building and providing access to the rooftop pool and cabanas. This, however, wasn’t a voice which belonged among our family; but it wasn’t unfamiliar either.

“Charlie, man, how are you doing?” Dewyyd asked as he came to sit next to me. I was well aware I might not be here if he wasn’t so fast when Tymestl attacked.

“I’m getting there,” I told him. “The arm and the shoulder are nearly healed enough to do my therapy. The cuts are getting there, although the insides are still messed up. I really am sick of the bland diet they’ve got me on.”

“Hey, for a guy who was mauled by his dragon, you’re doing well. None of the guys at any of the preserves have ever heard of someone going up against the talons of a Welsh Green and living to tell about it.” I sighed; no new information there. Seph wouldn’t say it, but the gory stories of other handlers’ deaths weren’t helping her emotions. She trembled when I merely mentioned returning to the preserve.

“Yeah, yeah, heard it all,” I said while waving my hand a bit. “Can we not talk about it? Makes the wife worried and the kids clingy.”

“Got it,” he replied with a nod. “Your Seph is one tough woman. My Mai wouldn’t have done as well at the hospital. There would be no way I’d be returning work ever again.”

“Seph is amazing; she knows this is my career, and she’s been good about not saying anything ‘bout me retiring or moving on. I have been thinking about it though,” I confessed. I hoped no one was around, I haven’t had time to talk this over with my wife.

“Really?” Dewyyd countered, looking and sounding shocked. “But, Charlie this is your passion. You’re the best we’ve got.”

“Nope, not anymore. Seph and those three little sprites are my passion now. I haven’t made any firm decisions, but if something less dangerous were to come my way I’d consider it,” I explained. Dewyyd nodded in understanding. My mate was sure he understood what it was like for me, but he didn’t really get it. He’d only just married Mai, they had not lived through their first crisis as a couple, and they didn’t have kids yet. Someday he’d understand, just not yet.

“So, what brings you over this way? Bath is rather far from your home in Manchester and the preserve.”

“Harry sent me an owl, asking me to meet him here. He also gave me this coin, said it would let me through the charms on the place and made me take four extra jumps between my house and here.” No one would ever accuse Harry of being reckless about the family’s safety.

“Huh? Any idea what he wanted to talk about?”

“The letter said he had news about Tymestl. I’ve been to the preserve in Scotland to check on her. They’ve got her isolated still, but she’s acting normal, as long as they sing to her.” That confirmed my suspicions about what had happened with her. I hoped Harry could confirm it. It had only been Dewyyd and Seph pleading my case for the girl that kept her alive right after the accident. Usually when a dragon went after her handler, they were put down immediately.

“She’s a good girl, well, as good as dragons can be,” I prefaced my statement. “I’ve known her since she hatched; she imprinted on me, thinking I was her mama. She would never hurt me on purpose. Someone had to be doing something to her.”

“They did,” Harry said as he came out onto the patio. “Dewyyd, good to see you. Charlie, how are you feeling today?”

“Better every day. This seat is the perfect thing for me. Thanks for the wand-work to make it.”

“No problem at all,” he answered. “Glad that it makes you comfortable.”

“Both of you, pull up a chair. I don’t have my wand, Harry, but if you send Seph a message, she’ll bring out some iced tea and biscuits she and Connor made,” I suggested and they both got something to sit on while Harry drew his wand.

“No need to ask me,” Seph said as she too came outside. She had a tray with my aforementioned suggestion. “Good to see you both,” she told the guys. “Sweetheart, do you need any of your pain potion or another spell on you?” I shook my head no. Seph hugged Harry before he sat down, then she snuggled up with me on the ‘good’ side. “As you were saying, Harry.”

“Tymestl was charmed or, well, something was charmed into her,” he said.

“What?” Seph and I asked in unison.

“When it was decided she wasn’t going to be put down, I asked that we scan her, like the healers do at St. Mungo’s. In the scan we saw several strange things: two odd voids and some needle like items in her lungs and then again near her reproductive organs and kidneys,” he explained.

“What the bloody hell!” I spat. “No wonder she was volatile!.” Dewyyd agreed with me.

Seph got a rather perplexed look on her face. “Did you get the needle things out?”

“We did, along with some tissue samples. Here, have a look and tell me what you think these are.” Harry handed over some strange see-through containers and odd, clear bags. I suspected they were Muggle items, as I’d never seen anything like them before.

“Those are jellyfish tentacles. Common moon tentacles, if I’m not mistaken,” my wife said; only Dewyyd was surprised by her quick response and knowledge.

“What can you tell me about them?” Harry asked. “Minister Shacklebolt and I have a theory. I want to see if you end up with the same conclusion.”

“Always about the mind games, eh Harry,” she teased him. “Why don’t we call Hermione in, I think she’d be happy to engage in some intellectual pursuits.”

“You’re right,” Harry said flicking his wand and watching his Patronus sail away.

“Who is Hermione?” Dewyyd asked.

“One of my best mates. She’s brilliant and has a remarkable brain. Seph’s right, she needs to be part of this,” Harry said even as he watched the door. As soon as she entered the apartment, Harry stood and got her a chair.

“What’s up, Harry? You didn’t say much in your message. What do you have there, Seph?” she asked, already considering what might need to be explained.

“Those are the dried up tendrils of a moon jellyfish, which gives the needle like appearance,” Seph explained.

“They were inside Tymestl?” I asked and Harry nodded.

“Absolutely,” he answered. “Kingsley and I think the entire jellyfish were charmed into Tymestl, at particularly sensitive places inside her. Any movement on her part would have led to another sting.”

“You call the Minister of Magic by his first name?” Dewyyd asked. Out of the previous comment, this is what surprised him?

“Oh, er, yeah,” Harry said, flustered. “Seph or Hermione, can you tell me more about them? Neither King nor I could come up with much on our own, and we didn’t want to bring anyone else in, for security reasons.”

“They’re potion making ingredients,” Hermione said. “I believe they’re controlled as well. We didn’t use them in our Potion classes last year.”

“Wow, found something that stumped the great Hermione Granger,” Harry said with just a bit of a snigger. “Can’t wait to tell Ron.”

“You keep your mouth shut, or I’ll tell Ginny where you’ve been getting those ‘moves’ she’s been enjoying so,” Hermione countered.

“Okay, kiddies, that’s enough,” I jumped in. I did not want to know about anything Harry did with my sister, married or not. “Seph, care to enlighten us?”

“Sure,” she said with a kiss to my cheek. I assumed it was in thanks for ending the ‘moves’ conversation. “Moon jellyfish are fairly common, they even grow in the waters around the UK. As with any jellyfish, they are poisonous, however these aren’t fatal, just annoying. Dried moon jellyfish are considered a level two potion-making supply, meaning they can be used in poisonous potions and therefore will only be sold to those with proper clearances for the medicinal properties of the tendrils. Most common use is in sedatives and neural inhibitor potions.

“If you’re looking for live ones, you can go out into the waters and catch them yourself. Most people don’t do this as the activity is fraught with peril, the least of which is getting caught in a colony of the jellyfish and stung so badly that returning to shore is difficult. There is a rather large and well-known smuggling ring run out of the Eastern Baltic Confederation. You can purchase huge numbers of the animals living or dead.

“As for implanting them inside something living, the pain would be excruciating. Poor Tymestl wouldn’t have had any way of letting you know how badly she hurt,” Seph concluded.

“The Aurors are trying to track down where the jellyfish came from, but it sounds to me like they’re going to end up at a dead end,” Harry told us. “That wasn’t all we found. There was this as well.” He pulled another thin, clear bag out with a small black square in it.

“Harry, let me see that,” Hermione said, and Harry passed the bag to her. He got a confident smile while she looked at the item.

“Do you know what this is?” she asked.

“I do, but King didn’t. I’m assuming you do.”

“Of course, it’s a computer chip. Why would a wizard plant a computer chip inside a dragon? Why is a wizard even working with Muggle electronic devices? Most of them are like Mr. Weasley, they haven’t a clue what these items do, so they just break them,” she said, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Dad and his workshop of Muggle items had always been amusing to me. I was the only one who laughed.

“Sorry,” I apologised. “What would the chip do?”

“Turns out it was sending information about Tymestl’s health to another computer chip somewhere. Her neuro-electric activity, heart rate, etc. I had a suspicion what it was when Kingsley showed it to me, and there was no way the evidence handlers in MLE would know what to do with it, so I took it to the hospital where Ted Tonks worked. They explained the chip was similar to ones they’d implant in cardiac patients. The thing is, it only sends the telemetry a short distance, so whoever did this to Tymestl would have had to be within a one mile radius when you were attacked,” Harry explained.

“They were on the preserve then,” Dewyyd jumped in before I could.

“Exactly. Also explains how the jellyfish got out of Tymestl so quickly. As soon as she was in isolation, the Tormentor would have just summoned them out. Leaving behind tentacles which were too strongly inserted into the flesh. I still don’t understand why the chip was left behind,” Harry added.

“I would guess out of arrogance,” my wife hypothesised. “The ego on this person is huge, I bet they assumed no one would be smart enough to figure out what it was. Most witches and wizards are wholly ignorant of the Muggle world.”

“So is this person a wizard or a Muggle?” I asked.

“I think it’s a wizard with exposure to the Muggle world,” Hermione added. “Harry and I, as wizarding children who were raised as Muggles, we know what a computer chip could do, but also have the skill to charm it into a dragon. The only other option would be someone like Seph, who grew up as a witch but then lived as a Muggle for so long. Even now though, Seph has some gaps in what she knows. Did you ever have a television?”

“Only for a short time, back at the beginning, and that’s because Sirius wanted it. He got angry and spelled it a few months later and killed it. I never replaced it,” she explained.

“Well, you’ve confirmed what King and I thought. I doubt the dragons will be used again,” Harry said. “There’s no reason to, especially since you’re still convalescing,” Harry stated.

“But, why have a dragon attack Charlie and then turn around and threaten all the girls and women and be silent? It’s been over a week and we haven’t heard anything,” Hermione asked.

“Not exactly silent,” Harry said as he pulled something out from behind him, in a satchel he’d hung on his chair. “A friend of ours who took a copy-editing job at The Daily Prophet. You remember Peter, that really nice Hufflepuff in our year, Hermione?” Harry stopped speaking and let Hermione think before she nodded. “Anyway, when he saw this, he thought it didn’t make sense. He’s sort of a fan of the breweries and the article caught his eye. He tried to go to the editor, but he was gone for the day. He advanced it to me when he couldn’t stop the publication. It’s going to appear in tomorrow’s early edition, I’m sorry.”

Seph took the copy from Harry and began reading. I felt like I couldn’t breathe while watching her read.

Her loud laugh was not what I was expecting to hear.

“This is utterly ridiculous! The article is questioning whether I’ve stolen recipes for the brewery. Who would I steal them from? No one was brewing magical beer when we started. I have the original scribbles in Muggle notebooks with the first grain bills and brew times. Nearly all the Muggle beers are in my handwriting, the charming is all in James’,” she explained.

“This wasn’t the response I was expecting out of you,” Harry confessed. I wasn’t going to say it, but I agreed with him.

“Harry, did you read it fully? The byline was someone we’ve never heard of, not the usual beer and wine reporter. It went to press when the editor was out of the building. If I know anything about how the D.P. runs, nothing gets into the paper without someone reviewing it. This doesn’t pass the stink test. I’m not worried about the bad press, it won’t go anywhere. There’s proof none of this is true,” she continued to explained.

“Wait, are you saying that you think it was snuck into the paper?” Hermione asked.

“It’s the only way something like this shite would get to press,” Seph stated.

“Harry, do you realize what this is?” Harry shook his head. “Whoever this is, they’ve made a mistake. We are going to investigate,” Hermione excitedly explained.

“No, you’re staying here in Bath, preferably in this building,” Harry argued.

“I am not,” Hermione sternly countered. “This can’t be as dangerous as slipping in and out of villages while on the run, or going to Godric’s Hollow. You have my back. You’ve never let me get hurt before, I won’t get hurt now.” Harry’s eyes drifted down to her forearm where “Mudblood” was carved, but said nothing. Maybe the Tormentor had finally made a mistake.
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