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Hollow Ash | ||||||
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Category: Post-Hogwarts Characters:Harry/Ginny, Neville Longbottom, Other Genres: Drama Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Disturbing Imagery, Extreme Language, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Sexual Situations, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 131 Summary: When a mysterious woman comes to the Auror office claiming to be the victim of a terrible crime, Theia and Harry want to do everything they can to help her. The problem is, she has no memory of what has happened. As they piece together the sinister events, their own troubles and traumas rise to the surface, causing them to question who they really are. Sequel to The Aurors. Hitcount: Story Total: 41603; Chapter Total: 1964 Awards: View Trophy Room |
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Harry followed Death through the Loney. He couldn’t see Death, but he knew that he knew Death well, and that Death’s cloak floated in the air. Death guided him through the mist - Harry could see the shadows of people through it. ‘Harry…’ called a voice. It was high and soft, it echoed through the fells. A woman’s voice. Death. ‘I’m coming,’ he told Death. ‘This way,’ it told him. Death led him along the footpath, small white flowers scattered the ground, the sun fell golden in the mist. Death pointed to the tree, and Harry looked in the hollow of it- He woke. He was breathing heavily, and upon his chest he felt a great weight. For a few moments he could not move, his muscles stiff like a corpse, drenched in sweat, with his heart pounding furiously. He realised he was gritting his teeth, and as he relaxed his jaw, so too did his muscles. He turned his head to see Ginny sleeping soundly, undisturbed, with her belly lifting the duvet like one of the hills in the Loney. He stared at her belly, imagining the baby inside it. The tiny fingers and fragile bones. The Healer said that at this stage it was roughly the size of a butternut squash. Perhaps by now it would have a little patch of black hair. He found he couldn’t look at it any longer, and swung his legs off the bed, leaning forward onto his knees, pressing his hands over his eyes. All he could see was what they had found at the ash tree in the Loney. He grabbed his glasses and slipped out of the bedroom, down the corridor and into Teddy’s room. They had him for the next couple of nights, and Harry was glad. Even in the dim light, Teddy’s shock of blue hair against the white of his pillow was striking. Harry laid on the bed next to him, one arm under his head and the other across Teddy, hugging him as tight as he dared without waking him up. He remembered when he met Teddy for the first time, the day after the battle. He had been a newborn, so tiny that it seemed like he wasn’t quite ready yet - his face still scrunched up and his limbs held like a little frog. Harry had held him awkwardly in the crook of his arm, and thought that he had been speaking quietly, but it was only when Andromeda took him back that he realised he had been shouting ‘I’m sorry!’ at the baby, over and over again through frantic sobs. For he had realised then, the size of him, how much Teddy had ahead. An entire lifetime of learning and playing and temper tantrums. Detentions and friendships being made and broken. Bad fashion choices and raging hormones. First jobs and bad jobs and falling in love and marriage and his own children, getting a cat and forgetting to water plants and all of it - all of it - he would have to do alone. Teddy held a world of potential in his tiny, newborn body. It was fragile and vulnerable enough, even without the privilege of parents that Harry felt he had snatched away from him. ‘God,’ he muttered quietly, as he realised his eyes were wet. He thought again about what they found. Teddy slept on, blissfully unaware, an entire golden future ahead of him. ………………. ‘You look awful,’ Theia said to him as she entered the office. ‘Didn’t sleep much either?’ ‘No,’ he replied gruffly. ‘You all right?’ She nodded, but then sighed and said, ‘well no, not really. But determined.’ He nodded too. She seemed to hesitate, her mouth slightly open and a blush spreading across her plump cheeks. ‘I… I wanted to ask you… In regards to the… recent developments…’ ‘Yes?’ ‘Well, I was meant to go and visit Dennis in prison today. But that exhausts me at the best of times and I think given yesterday, emotionally I just can’t-’ ‘Of course,’ he said quickly. ‘We can put a pause on that case.’ ‘Really?’ the relief on her face was marked. ‘You don’t mind? I know you want me to keep getting information out of him but I don’t think I can-’ ‘Our focus is on this now,’ he said firmly. ‘Put him and that whole project aside. I’ll send word you’re ill or something so he doesn’t think you have abandoned him.’ She tried to smile at him, but it was more of a grimace. ‘Are you ready?’ she asked. He rubbed his jaw. He hadn’t shaved. ‘Yeah,’ he said heavily, rising. ‘Is everyone else gathered?’ ‘Full house.’ He smoothed down his robes before leaving the office, though there was little point given the dark circles under his eyes. The Auror department was gathered in the largest briefing room, sitting on chairs, perched on tables and finally standing at the back. Harry walked to the front as the general chatter trailed off, Theia following but standing off to the side. ‘Morning,’ he said. He glanced at the board behind him. Filled with moving photos and arrows and scrolls of notes that unfurled when you needed them to. The photo of the tree, and what had been found there, was in the centre, and Harry looked back down at his notes. ‘Yesterday morning, the remains of…’ Harry gathered himself, and then continued as matter of factly as he could, ‘...a newborn baby were found inside a hollow in a tree trunk. Myself and trainee Auror Theia Higglesworth found the child, and Bessie’s team excavated the site.’ He paused and looked back at the photo of the baby. ‘The… This little boy is newborn. He is believed to be the son of Marcia Staindrop, who approached us some weeks ago in a very confused state. He is currently unnamed, and he is in the morgue while Bessie looks for a cause of death.’ There was a heavy silence in the room, except for the scratching of quills. Harry gestured to the next photo. ‘When Bessie’s team excavated, they also found the skeletal remains of a young woman, estimated to be between the ages of sixteen and twenty five…’ He held his hand to the photo, pointing at the skull. ‘It’s not yet confirmed, but it is believed that it may be the remains of Connie Dunn, who went missing in the area in the winter of 1961 aged nineteen…’ Harry looked back at his audience. ‘I know that… the death of a newborn baby is the crux of this case. But Connie’s mother is still alive. She has been missing her daughter for forty years.’ He pointed at Connie’s photo from her file - in it, the blonde, cheerful girl with a white head band laughed at the camera, occasionally breaking into winks and air kisses. He then turned back to the gathered crowd of somber faces. ‘Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because it was a long time ago, her death doesn’t matter. The pain of losing someone doesn’t go away, and if this is Connie - which, by the way, I feel very strongly it is - we might be able to give her mother the chance to have a proper resting place for her. One that she can go to and grieve.’ He searched through the crown and gave a nod to one of the junior Aurors. ‘Jerome, among the skeletal remains was a watch. I would like you to take the watch to Connie’s mother and see if she recognises it. I know you’ll have the sensitivity to do it right.’ Jerome, who was among the most diplomatic and emotionally intelligent Aurors in the department, nodded. The scroll from Connie’s file flew towards him, and he caught it smoothly. Harry turned back to the board, and tapped Marcy’s photo. ‘Marcia Staindrop is back in protective custody. She is confused and vulnerable, and there’s some kind of unhappy past there. Though she was never able to say clearly to us that she had lost a baby, what is clear is that something traumatic happened. And that she misses her son very much, even if she cannot remember him.’ ‘Can we be sure that she wasn’t involved?’ asked Judy. ‘It’s not unheard of.’ Harry shook his head. ‘It’s not unheard of at all, you’re right. Judy, as you and Theia know Marcy, I want you to look at her very closely.’ He hesitated. ‘I’ve… I feel that her state of confusion fluctuates. A lot. Whether this is normal or not I have no idea, because we don’t know what caused her memory loss. What I am sure of though is that she has recalled some things that she avoids telling us. I don’t know why. It could be guilt. Shame. Fear. You need to find out.’ Judy looked at Theia and nodded in gritted determination. Harry knew they were close friends, and he thought a woman’s touch might be better at getting more information from Marcy. He moved on to the next photo. ‘Ralf Osman. I’ll be interviewing him later today, we currently have him in custody. He picked up a child’s bike that was left at the scene some time ago. Theia will be going to see if the child witnessed anything suspicious.’ Osman’s face glared angrily out at him, his grey beard giving him that unkempt, hardened look that Harry thought so fitted the Loney. ‘I think,’ he said slowly, ‘that Osman didn’t want people lurking around the scene, and that’s why he picked up the bike. It’s also why he wouldn’t tell us where it was that he found it. I also think there is animosity between Osman and the Swindlehurst family. He warned us of them on our first meeting, was in a fist fight with Oeric Swindlehurst, and was very dismissive, even insulting towards Marcy. Proudfoot, I want you and your team to conduct a search of his house. Be thorough, tear it apart if you have to. He clearly didn’t want us inside, and I want to know why.’ Next was Pauline’s photo. Her short blonde hair as messy as it was when Harry first met her, her face with an oddly knowing expression, as weathered and hardy as one would expect from a resident of the Loney. ‘This woman I’m not even sure where to begin,’ said Harry, and he couldn’t help the edge in his voice. ‘I don’t like her. There’s something… Off. She gives the impression that she took Marcy in when she was essentially neglected by her parents, becoming a parental figure to her after they died. But I don’t think so. She was totally unconcerned that Marcy was missing, and didn’t seem shocked when we told her about her state of mind. She told us that her baby had died in Lancaster hospital. Perhaps she was deceived herself, but I think it’s more likely that she knew exactly where the baby was.’ He went to the far corner of the board, where a map of the Loney had been pinned. ‘This is her house. Right in the centre. Marcy’s is just up the road and although she seems to live alone we got the impression that she doesn’t spend much time there. Also living with Pauline is her mother, who we now know is called Alma Swindlehurst.’ He paused. The photo of Alma seemed ludicrous - an ancient old woman on her deathbed. ‘She is one hundred and three years old. We have no records of her ever attending Hogwarts, but she is a witch. She seems to be very elderly and fragile, but Auror Higglesworth witnessed her walking through the Loney at some speed at roughly 3 AM, barefoot in just a nightdress.’ There were some whispered mutters from the crowd, and Harry saw Theia take a deep breath, raising her chin in a stubborn sort of way. ‘I shouldn’t have to tell you, but the Loney is cold. Very cold. It’s utterly bizarre that-’ ‘Could it have been a dream?’ asked Williamson. ‘No-’ began Harry, but Theia interrupted fiercely. ‘Absolutely not. It sounds bizarre and it was. Oddly disturbing, something almost supernatural about it. I wasn’t dreaming, I know what I saw.’ Everybody looked slightly too scared to whisper any more. Harry nodded, and continued. ‘It’s suspicious behaviour to say the least, not only because it would be odd for anyone to do, but also because when we first met Alma, Pauline went to great lengths to tell us how much caring she needed - talking about her cataracts and arthritis and so on. Given her age, it’s not like we doubted that at all. As Pauline has been arrested under suspicion, we have also been able to take in Alma, under the guise of being able to care for her. It should be noted that we haven’t arrested her because we can’t otherwise see any connection.’ ‘Apart from the postcard,’ said Theia quickly. ‘Right, yes, sorry - the postcard. In Marcy’s home there was a postcard signed with the letter ‘A’.’ He tapped the board with his wand, and the postcard appeared, the black and white beach with the mountains in the background. ‘Does anyone recognise the place?’ asked Harry. There was silence, and then a shaky hand at the back rose into the air. One of Susan’s admin team, who was there only to take notes. ‘Abby?’ ‘I think… I mean I’m not sure or anything, but I think it might be Morecambe Bay.’ ‘Thank you. Matt, I’ll give you the full details, but I’ll want you to look into that. See if any handwriting comparisons can be done - in a subtle way. I’m still not sure it is her that wrote it because it seems a bit… Romantic, although I suppose you never know. As it stands she’s the only one we currently have who might sign her name with an A.’ As he said this, he noticed Theia blink several times and frown, as though remembering something. He made a mental note to ask her later. ‘Just down the road from Pauline and Alma is Ornella, and her two children.’ Again, he tapped the photo of the wild but beautiful woman, who blinked slowly out at the room. ‘Beyond being just a bit odd,’ said Harry, deciding to avoid talking about how Ornella had commented on his similarity to his father, ‘it seems like Marcy may have been very jealous of her magical powers, and I didn’t get the feeling that Ornella was particularly keen on her either, despite the impression she tried to give. For a brief time we wondered if the youngest baby was in fact Marcy’s because of an odd comment she made, but he was always just a bit too old. Even so, I’d still like someone from Bessie’s team to go and do a blood test, please as it seems like a weird situation. Her, Pauline and Alma have all kept the name Swindlehurst. I know we’re in a new millenium, and women can keep their maiden names, but apart from Oeric there don’t seem to be any men in this family. Ornella says the children’s father is a Muggle. Again, we’ll want to look into that. ‘Finally, we have Oeric. We’ve got nothing concrete but he has a history of abusing young women, seemed particularly hateful when we mentioned Marcy, and told us not to believe a word she says. He’s a disgusting drunk with a reputation - he’ll be difficult but I think it’s very likely there’ll be something there. Dawlish,’ he said, hoping no one could tell it was through gritted teeth, ‘you’ve dealt with the man before-’ ‘That’s right,’ said Dawlish, leaning back with one ankle up on his knee in an irritatingly smug way. ‘I put him away a few years back for some pretty nasty rapes of Muggle women. I would be particularly interested to see if we can find any connection between him and Connie Dunn.’ ‘Great, look into that,’ said Harry. ‘I also thi-’ ‘Of course,’ continued Dawlish, turning to the room at large, ‘we must remember that just because he has a nasty history, that is not, in of itself, evidence.’ Harry looked up at the ceiling and counted to ten while Dawlish lectured the room about due process. ‘Anyway,’ he said at last. ‘He’s a nasty bastard and I hate him. As for the rest of you, I want someone to go to Muggle Liaison and organise a memory modification. We had some poor Muggle policeman with us and I didn’t want to wipe his memory completely keen as he’s still useful for background info. He’ll just need things tweaked slightly.’ ‘I’ll do it,’ said Graham, one of the junior Aurors. ‘Where is the policeman now?’ ‘Er… Well he was a bit confused and frightened, so I took him to my house.’ Robbards, who had been staring carefully at the board the entire time, turned so fast to look at Harry that the Aurors around him started. ‘What?’ he barked. ‘Potter, that’s entirely against-’ ‘I know, and I’m sorry, but I couldn’t send him home and I couldn’t bring him here, so I thought I would keep him under my wife’s watchful eye-’ ‘So you’ve broken the Statute of Secrecy?’ ‘I think my wife is breaking it to him as we speak,’ said Harry. He could see some people trying to hold back grins and chuckles, but Robbards looked aghast, and Dawlish looked positively delighted at Harry’s unprofessionalism. ‘We really have built up a good relationship with him,’ said Harry. ‘He knows the area, he knows the people, he has lived there his entire life. More than that, he is a policeman himself so while he might not have experience of the wizarding world he understands the process of an investigation and could be a real insight into things like motivations.’ He had decided not to tell them that Ben thought that the theft of a child’s bike warranted emergency lights. ‘We had to tell him, he was about to call in all sorts of Muggles. It would have been much harder to contain. We can modify his memory after the case is dealt with,’ said Theia. ‘We’ve been able to forge a doctor’s note signing him off for two months, so he won’t be missed at work.’ Harry nodded his gratitude at her. ‘The rest of you I want you searching the houses at the Loney, for anything and everything that could be of interest. Points of note - gypsophila was left at the tree. Common name baby’s breath. Someone feels guilty. ‘Marcy also mentioned seeing love potions being made, apparently “for Ornella”. We don’t know if this was for Ornella to use, perhaps on this Muggle that fathered her children, or someone to use on Ornella. Not to get too personal with you all, but I noticed that Pauline’s home smelled of sweet peas. Theia thought it smelled of candles that have just been blown out. I think it could be quite likely that love potions get made there. Any evidence of that, let me know.’ He surveyed them all. He was never quite sure how to end a briefing. ‘Ok, get on with it,’ he said eventually, and there was a great scraping of chairs. He loitered, staring at the board, hoping something would click into place. ‘I meant to ask you,’ said Theia, coming to stand beside him, ‘how you knew. Yesterday. How you knew to search there.’ He wasn’t sure how to answer. ‘I don’t know. Dumbledore once told me that dark magic leaves traces, and I think when you’ve been around it enough you start to recognise that.’ ‘Dark magic then, that’s what we’re dealing with?’ ‘Yeah. This doesn’t feel like your standard murder. There’s magic in this.’ He looked at her. ‘I’m going to start with interviewing Osman. I think you should come too.’ ‘Good,’ she said. ‘Because I worked something out, and it could change things.’ ………………………………… ‘Who are you?’ Teddy was asking, his legs swinging under the table. The Muggle opposite blinked in a dazed sort of way. ‘I’m Ben.’ ‘Why are you here for breakfast?’ Teddy asked, before shoving a spoonful of sugary cereal into his mouth. ‘I… I don’t know…’ ‘Harry brought Ben round to stay last night, Teddy,’ said Ginny smoothly. ‘After you’d gone to bed. He’s going to stay with us for a little while to learn all about magic.’ Ben looked helplessly at Ginny, his own toast and cereal untouched. ‘Why don’t you know about magic?’ asked Teddy through his mouthful of cereal. ‘I don’t know,’ said Ben. ‘He’s a Muggle, Teddy,’ said Ginny. ‘But we have special permission to let him know about magic.’ ‘So am I allowed to do this?’ asked Teddy, and he promptly turned his hair from blue to a neon green. Ben yelped and gave such a start that he knocked over his orange juice. ‘Yes, you are,’ said Ginny calmly. She turned to Ben and said, ‘Teddy can change his appearance at will. He’s special like that. Don’t worry about it.’ She flicked her wand at the spilled orange juice and it vanished. Another flick, and his glass righted itself and refilled. ‘This is mad,’ said Ben, who looked rather pale as he watched. ‘Mad.’ ‘Yes, it must all be a bit of a shock,’ said Ginny sympathetically. ‘I am sorry you got dragged into it all, Harry is usually a lot better at keeping things subtle around Muggles. He doesn’t really like to involve people in his work if he can help it.’ ‘So he’s not really a policeman?’ Ben said, sounding almost bitterly amused. ‘I thought they were from the Met. God, I’m an idiot.’ ‘No, but they do similar sort of work,’ said Ginny pleasantly. ‘More to do with magic.’ ‘I still don’t understand how I got here,’ he said. ‘Foo!’ shouted Teddy excitably. ‘Floo,’ Ginny corrected. ‘But no, not the Floo.’ She considered explaining apparition but thought better of it. ‘He brought you here by magic.’ ‘Where is here?’ ‘Devon.’ He groaned, and looked faintly green. ‘How much time has passed? Did… Did you put me under a spell?’ Ginny tried not to laugh. ‘Oh, dear, no. I promise, you just fell asleep. No wonder, it must have been such an overwhelming day.’ ‘I don’t know where all those people came from,’ he said dumbly. ‘They all just sort of… appeared. Out of nowhere.’ ‘Look at this,’ said Teddy, and with a scrunch of his nose, he grew flappy pig ears. Ben’s terrified expression made Teddy squeal with laughter, and Ginny sighed heavily. ‘Ted, stop it-’ ‘You said I could!’ ‘We also talked, didn’t we, about how not everyone likes things like that? And how you should keep changes natural until you’re sure.’ Ben was furiously rubbing his eyes. ‘I must be dreaming. Or delirious or something.’ ‘You’re not,’ said Ginny, trying her best to be soothing. ‘Harry and I tried to explain everything to you yesterday, but I understand that it’s a lot to take in - Ted, I mean it, put your ears back - and I think it’s quite normal to find it all a bit much.’ ‘I feel sick,’ he said. He did look a little green. ‘I’m not surprised. Would you like me to make you a potion to settle your stomach?’ ‘A- A po… No. No thank you.’ He gulped. ‘How long do I have to stay here? Am I a prisoner?’ ‘Oh, mate, no,’ said Ginny, feeling a little alarmed. ‘You’re not a prisoner or anything. I mean,’ she added uneasily. ‘You can’t leave... but you’re not a prisoner.’ He gawped at her. ‘Look, if you want to leave, that’s ok. We can work something out. But we would have to wipe your memory of everything. You wouldn’t remember Harry or Theia or anything since they arrived.’ ‘You can do that?’ he asked, horrified. ‘Like in Men in Black?’ ‘I… I’m sorry I don’t know what that is,’ she said awkwardly. He groaned. ‘I mean, I knew there was something off about them, because why would the Met send anyone up to the Loney? But you think you’ve found the perfect girl, and you try to get to know her, and it turns out she’s a magic person.’ ‘A witch,’ said Ginny. ‘Men are wizards, women are witches.’ ‘I’m not saying that, it’s ridiculous. Next you’ll be telling me about ghouls and goblins.’ She felt sorry for him. She could tell he was trying not to let his lip tremble, and she reminded herself of how traumatised Harry himself had been yesterday - how he had come back with this Muggle stranger and immediately poured them both whiskeys, explaining things in the guarded sort of way he did when he was particularly upset. Then later, when he had told her exactly what had happened, what they had found, he had struggled to keep his voice steady - to deal with that and come home to your family and familiar surroundings was one thing. To deal with it and suddenly find yourself hundreds of miles from home in an instant, followed by breakfast with a boy who was currently turning his skin into leopard spots was quite another. ‘No one at home is going to believe this,’ Ben said. ‘I’m sorry,’ she replied. ‘But you can’t tell them. Ever.’ ‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘Like I said, no one would believe it. They’d cart me off to a padded room somewhere.’ ‘That sounds fun,’ said leopard-printed Teddy. ‘You could run into the walls.’ Ben looked at him, and to his credit, he didn’t blink at the bizarre looking boy. ‘I suppose it would be for a bit,’ he said. ‘Like a bouncy castle.’ ‘Harry lets me bounce on his bed.’ ‘Is that so?’ asked Ben, who seemed grateful to hear about something normal. ‘You can have a go later if you like,’ said Teddy kindly. There was a twitch of a smile around Ben’s mouth. ‘That’s nice of you, Ted, but I think Ben and I will have lots to talk about before Harry gets home from work,’ said Ginny. ‘I expect he has lots of questions.’ ‘I do,’ said Ben, who still had the sort of dazed look one would expect from a concussion patient. He turned to Teddy, who was now looking a little forlorn. ‘I think my stomach’s a bit delicate for jumping on the bed just yet. Why don’t we do some baking together instead? Your mum can explain things to me while we make cake, and then we can eat it. It’s relaxing, is baking.’ Teddy blinked. ‘Ginny’s not my mum.’ ‘Oh, god, sorry,’ said Ben quickly, turning to Ginny. ‘I just assumed-’ ‘It’s all right,’ said Ginny warmly. ‘Teddy’s Harry’s godson. He’s staying with us for a few days, then going back to his gran’s. Baking sounds like a lovely idea. I’ll supervise because I’m terrible.’ She considered filling Ben in on the backstory, but then thought the wizarding world, what with it’s suddenly appearing Aurors, potions and murder in the Loney was probably frightening enough without the story of Harry Potter and the orphaning of Teddy Lupin. No, she thought, as Teddy clumsily weighed out flour and she filled Ben in on the role of the Ministry of Magic, it was best that Ben knew them as what they were: a perfectly ordinary family. |
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