The Heart of Gryffindor
by SJR0301
Part II - Chapter Nine
With a final wave at Annie, Harry joined Johnny and Mac. "Let's go," he said. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
Johnny regarded him uneasily, or so it seemed to Harry, and said, "I think we ought to get back as soon as possible."
Harry, shrugged and would have acceded, except that Mac said mildly, "I wouldn't mind something to eat myself. We've got enough time for a pint and a sandwich."
They found a small pub nearby and snagged a corner booth in dark. No one said anything much until after the hostess had taken their orders and left them to eat. Harry let the other two carry the conversation then as he inhaled a sandwich and a pint of beer. He was glad to have the grace of the extra seconds needed to chew his food, though, when Johnny said critically, "Do you have any idea what trouble we're going to get into? We're supposed to go back in two weeks for follow-up auditions, and we don't have off that Sunday." He glared at Harry and added, "And don't think you're going to convince us to go back without telling anyone."
Harry raised an eyebrow and swallowed and took a sip of his beer to give himself extra time. By then, he had his face and calm and he said simply, "Of course not. We'll tell Bones all about it as soon as we get back."
That took them by surprise so he followed up almost impatiently. "I always meant to tell him, you know, as soon as we had any proof that we were on the right track. And obviously, we've got our hooks into something bigger than we expected."
"Because Norway showed up?" Mac asked skeptically, "or because of Hayden?"
"Oh, both," Harry answered. He frowned and said slowly, "And more so because of who they met with."
"The blond guy," Johnny said. He stared at Harry as if willing him to tell all while at the same time he wanted to hear nothing at all.
"Lucius Malfoy," Harry said. He knew he was treading the thin line of the Statute of Secrecy, but after the afternoon's events, he had a feeling that Johnny and Mac needed to understand something of what they were dealing with. "He was one of Voldemort's men. I told you that."
"The Lord of Death," Johnny said quickly, almost as if he were correcting Harry. "Are you sure? How do you know?"
"I know," Harry said. "I've met him before and he's nearly as dangerous as his master was."
"It doesn't make sense," Mac said. "What the hell was Norway doing meeting with them? You don't think he tried the same trick as we did, and got the same meeting time?"
"Not a chance," Harry answered. "We were the only ones that saw that particular batch of e-mails. Bones told me. So he can't have done that." He paused to let the implication sink in and then said, "No. He was there meeting with them because he's already connected to them. He's Hayden's man now, it looks like. And he didn't like it when Malfoy gave him orders, did he?"
The others looked both disturbed and doubtful. "He's one of us," Johnny said firmly.
"He's a fraud," Harry insisted. "He didn't need any directions when Malfoy told him to go to that pub, did he? He knew where to go. And it was one where the gangs met that Voldemort was controlling." He didn't add the thing that was the likely conclusion: the real Norway was probably dead. As dead as the Death Eaters apparently thought Harry was, He put that thought aside; but he thought, Bones had some explaining to do. And so did his friends.
"This is just so unlikely," Mac protested. "I mean, Hayden is a movie star. What's he doing meeting with them? He could have been there by coincidence to research for the movie."
"That was no coincidence," Harry said grimly. "He knew the others already and he chose that exhibition on purpose because it was good cover for him. Don't you remember his name in the e-mails was Hengist? And that's his character in the movie." He thought a moment and added, "It all fits in, too. He was with the Anglo Aryan Alliance, right? They're a terrorist group we're tracking now, right? And now he's hooked up with the remnants of Voldemort's gang."
"Now wait a minute," Johnny interrupted. "The Alliance has never done anything major aside from a few small racial demonstrations. Certainly nothing on the level of the Lord of Death."
"Well, I guess he's expanding his ambitions," Harry answered dryly. "He even bangs on about his racial purity stuff in the movie. Did you hear him? He called me a half-blood, a mongrel."
"You?" Johnny said. "That was your character he was insulting, not you."
"I know that," Harry said. "But you do see it's all the same thing. Racial purity is their goal in their stupid club. Racial purity and superiority is their message in the movie." He tried to control his agitation. Nervously, he got up and found a few pound notes in his pocket and tossed them on the table. "We should get back," he said abruptly, "and tell Bones about this."
"What about Norway?" Johnny asked on the way back. "What do we say to him if we see him?" He was driving much faster than he had on the way down, but not nearly as fast as Harry would have liked. He had been tempted, almost, to simply apparate back, but he knew that wouldn't do.
"We tell Bones first," Harry answered. "And then we question him until he spills everything," he added grimly, "or we make him wish he'd never been born."
That made Johnny takes his eyes off the road to stare at Harry. "You're too young to be talking like that," he said.
Harry closed his eyes and leaned back into the shadows of the back seat before replying. "You wouldn't say that if you’d ever met Voldemort face to face like I have." He kept quiet after that, ignoring their curious glances and leading comments. He was going to have to have a talk with Dumbledore, he thought, and soon. Dumbledore, he thought, must have inkling about what was going on. He had to. He must have known Malfoy was out there again. If he had ever been caught in the first place. With mounting anger, he wondered just how many Death Eaters were still free and how much the others had concealed from him.
As soon as they got back the compound, Harry went straight to the dispatch officer to ask where Bones might be.
"He's gone," the officer said briefly.
"Still?" Harry asked. He looked at Johnny and Mac in frustration as if he could will Bones' return just by their combined need to speak with the Inspector.
"He was back," the dispatch officer replied, "only he left again almost immediately. Meetings in London at the Yard, he said."
"Did he say when he'd get back?" Harry asked.
The dispatch officer shrugged and started leafing through some papers, letting them know that he was through answering questions.
"Maybe we should go to Daniels or Worthington," Mac suggested.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Harry said at once. "We don't know if Bones even told them about the box. They'll probably just think we've made the whole thing up to get Norway into trouble."
"What makes you think Bones won't?" Johnny asked. "And what makes you think we won't be in trouble for doing all this without permission?"
"We might be," Harry said shortly, "but Bones knows about the way Voldemort -- the Lord of Death, used the gangs cause he investigated them. He knows who his followers were. If I tell him I saw Malfoy there, he'll understand."
"And how do you know Inspector Bones so well, anyway?" Mac asked.
"Oh, well," Harry, answered with embarrassment, "he nearly arrested me cause I showed up at one of Voldemort's operations looking for him."
"He nearly arrested you?" Johnny sputtered. "And you got in here?"
"He didn't ever charge me," Harry said indignantly. "And he was there when I ... had the last fight with Voldemort." He paused to collect his thoughts and forced aside the unpleasant memories. With a small grin of self-derision, he added, "You should see what he's like when he starts asking questions for real. He could make you confess to anything when he gets going."
"Did you? Confess?" Mac asked incredulously.
"Not exactly," Harry answered. "He left me in his office for a few minutes and I read his files on Voldemort, so I knew what he was really investigating. Then I told him what I was up to cause I saw that he was okay."
"You read his files?" Johnny stopped dead and grabbed his arm. "You read a Scotland Yard officer's files while you were being questioned? And they didn't lock you up and throw away the key?"
"Erm, no," Harry answered, "Although I think it crossed their minds a time or two. I think," He added seriously, "he somehow thinks my being drafted here is a sort of punishment."
"What do you mean, drafted?" Mac asked. "This is only for voluntary applicants. People apply and get rejected all the time."
Harry shrugged. "I applied to a different Ministry and they hired me and transferred me here. I guess they thought I had experience with terrorists because I was a surviving victim," he added sourly.
The others, he saw didn't know what to make of that. He took advantage of their hesitation and said, "Let's meet up again later and see if he's returned. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until the morning."
"What about Norway?" Johnny asked for the second time.
"He'll wait," Harry answered. "He doesn't know we saw him, right? And he still thinks no one here has any idea he's not who he says he is. So he'll show up and go to training tomorrow the same as he has. He's not going to run away or anything cause his job is to get in here and find out what we have on them before we can use it."
"You really think he's a double agent?" Mac asked.
"Don't you?" Harry retorted. They were silent at that and he nodded. "You do."
"All right," Johnny said after a moment. "We say nothing until Bones gets back. But after that, no more unauthorized investigations, right?"
Harry smiled and said, "Sure."
He strode off looking for Ron and Hermione and Ginny. They, he thought, had to have some answers. Especially about why no one had told him Lucius Malfoy was on the loose.
Harry banged on Ron's door and when no one answered, he snarled in frustration, "Come on! Open up, Ron!"
Being intent on his object, he fairly jumped when a voice right behind him said, "What the devil are you shouting about?"
It was Ginny. If he hadn't been so angry, he would have been amused by the expression on her face, which could have rivaled Madam Prince’s for its severity.
"Where is he? And Hermione. I want to talk to them. And you," he answered.
"Shopping," she replied coolly.
"Shopping?" he responded incredulously. "Why aren't you with them, then? And why didn't they ask me to come?"
"Get a clue, Harry," she said impatiently. "They didn't want me and they didn't want you either. They wanted to be alone for a bit and away from here."
She examined his face, which was undoubtedly flushed with frustration and asked, "What's got you in such a snit anyway?"
He caught her by the arm and led her, dragged her really, into his room and asked without further preamble, "Why wasn't I told Lucius Malfoy is on the loose? How many other Death Eaters are still out there? And why does he think I'm dead?" When she gaped at him in horror, he fairly shouted, "Why wasn't I told? Why is everyone keeping things from me?"
She closed her mouth abruptly and asked, "Malfoy, he didn't see you did he? You didn't talk to him, did you?" It was she who caught him by the arms this time and she shook him as much as she could give her small stature. "Where did you go today? You were supposed to be in detention! What happened?" she hissed. And after the barest pause for breathes, "You're not hurt, are you?"
He shook his head and asked again, "Why did you all lie to me? Why?"
"Oh, Harry," she said. All the fury drained from her face and she said, "We were afraid for you. And besides, every time anyone brings up Voldemort, you cut him or her off and change the subject. Even if we wanted to talk about it, you didn't."
"You should have told me," he insisted.
"I told Dumbledore we should," she said, but the end was cut off as she must have realized her mistake in saying that much.
"You've been talking to Dumbledore about me? What did you tell him? How weak and pathetic I am? Did you tell him you think I'm a bit touched? Is that what this is all about? You think my brain's affected?" He knew it was unfair what he was saying, but he couldn't help it. All those weeks of anxious glance and whispered conversations and now this.
"You can't blame us for being worried," she said. "You practically died. And even after, you were terribly weak and you acted like you were sorry you didn't die. We were afraid, Dumbledore was afraid, if anybody knew you were alive, they'd be after you for revenge and you wouldn't have been able to defend yourself." She paused and her eyes sparkled with tears unshed. "I'm not sure you would have even tried. You didn't when Voldemort went after you. You admitted it. You tricked him on purpose into using the Killing Curse only you expected to die. You wanted to die. Even now, you don't really care if you do anymore."
"You know why I did what I did," Harry said quietly. All his anger was gone now and he felt ashamed to have been angry at her and at his friends for caring.
"No, I don't," she said.
"Yes, you do," he insisted. "It was you who said it last year. I heard you tell them. The only way to defeat Voldemort was for me to die because then he couldn't share my life anymore."
She was silent a moment and then her face changed. "He's not...Harry, he is dead, isn't he? We saw him go. He..."
"Go on, then," he said, "tell me. Tell me what happened."
She stared at him and whispered, "I thought you knew."
"Not all of it," he said. "I need to know now, all of it. I only remember the Curse striking me and that's it."
She looked away from him toward the window where the sky was rapidly darkening. "You shut yourself in with him, you made that shield and you fought with your swords. And you disarmed him."
"I remember that," he said. "And then?"
"You called him a coward," she said shakily. "You told him he'd never dare do the spell, but he did. It hit you and you fell and we...I was sure you were dead. Then the spell backfired. It struck him back. There was a huge wave of green light and he was flung back against the shield and he...well, he fried sort of...just burned up into nothing. And then the shield came down and you were lying there and your heart was stopped and we were sure you were dead."
He said nothing, because it still told him nothing and he remembered none of it.
She looked at him and said, "You've got that look again, like you're not here. Harry, he is dead. He can't have survived that. Did he...Did you know that it would happen...like that?"
He shook his head and said, "No."
He was remembering the moment when he had flown free of his body and he had been in that other place and his Mum's kiss lingered on his cheek.
He looked at her said gently, "He's gone, really. Or if he's not, he's not connected to me anymore."
"But you still have your scar," she said.
He raised his eyebrows and said, "Curse scars never go away, and you know that. Bill taught us that."
Seeing that she was still looking scared, he elaborated and said, "I check every day. Every night before I sleep and every morning when I wake, I look inside my mind for him, and he's not there. So it's all right."
"But Malfoy!" she said. "What about him? Did he see you?"
"No," he said. He sat down and ran his hand through his hair and then told her everything.
"Norway!" Ginny exclaimed, when he got to that part. "I don't believe it. How can that be?"
"He's got to be one of those Muggle gang members that Voldemort recruited last year," Harry answered. "Johnny and Mac couldn't believe it either and they saw him."
"I can't believe you took them and didn't tell us," she grumbled.
"Yeah, well, I did try to, you know," he answered. "I told you about the potions box and you all told me to leave it to Bones and Dumbledore."
"Well, we were right, too," she replied. "Malfoy would have killed you if he saw you today."
"I didn't know he'd be there," Harry retorted. "How was I to know he'd be meeting with a bloody terrorist that we're tracking here in the Muggle Ministry?"
"I suppose," she said, but when he told her about Hayden and the movie, she was less interested in Hayden's connections to a terrorist group and his alias than in Annie.
"You always did like her," she said jealously.
"Annie's married," he answered. "And besides, she's my friend. Like Hermione's my friend." Her expression was very like a cat that had its fur rubbed the wrong way, so before she could fume at him further, he leaned forward and kissed her. "There," he said, and seeing her face soften, he quickly said, "Now you tell me what you were up to today. Where did you go?"
Seeing that Ginny was reluctant to tell him, he pressed, "Come on. I told you. I know you went early and Ron and Hermione and Bones. And Malfoy said something about them having a set back. What happened?"
Her brown eyes narrowed as she told him, and it was his turn to exclaim in astonishment. "Pansy Parkinson? She had a baby? When did that happen?"
"Well, obviously," Ginny said sarcastically, "she wasn't being very careful with Draco, was she? There were rumors at the end of the year last year, but you were too preoccupied to notice, I suppose."
"Being careful?" Harry echoed. The recollection of Mrs. Weasley having a conversation with him about being careful suddenly flashed by and he felt horribly embarrassed. "Your Mum once tried to say something to me about being careful, but I thought she was talking about something else." He stared at her and asked, "Have you...?"
"Been careful?" she finished. "It's not very hard to make the potion, you know. I expect Pansy neglected to take it on purpose. She thought she'd get Draco to marry her. Only once he was through with her, he was through."
He couldn't help it. He didn't quite know what to say, but only stared at her some more. She stared back at him, and he saw with astonishment, that a single tear was falling down her face. "What?" he asked. "Why are you crying?"
"Because, Harry," she said softly, "when I saw you lying there and I thought you were dead, I wished I hadn't been careful at all."
That unnerved him altogether and he had no clue what to say, so he took refuge in the one action he thought would comfort her and kissed her.
Later, when the moon was setting, he buried his face in her hair and said sleepily, "I wish I could go to sleep like this every night, and wake up just like this every morning."
She sat up and gawked at him and said in astonishment, "Do you want to marry me?"
"Oh," he said. He didn't answer any further right away as the question took him utterly by surprise. It was one he had never before really allowed himself to consider. Not while Voldemort had lived.
An image of them in a funny crooked house like the Burrow flashed into his mind: a house with a big Christmas tree and heaps of presents and full of people laughing.
He saw her face fall and stammered, "Oh, yeah. Yes, I do."
They had no time for further conversation, though, as a loud thump sounded on his door and a voice shouted, "Potter! Come out! You're wanted! Now!"
***
The midnight curfew was fast approaching as Johnny strode down the corridor toward his dormitory. He thought for a moment that his watch must be wrong as Worthington caught up with him. However, instead of questioning him about why he was out of his room, Worthington asked, "Where's Potter? Have you seen him?"
"No, sir," Johnny replied. "Not since this afternoon, anyway, sir." We've been caught out, he thought, but after a glance at the Lieutenant's grim face, he thought it must be even worse, though he could not imagine what trouble Harry might have gotten into just since the afternoon. "He might be in his room," Johnny offered. "It is close to midnight."
"Which is his?" Worthington asked tersely.
Johnny led him quickly down the hall and bypassed his own room. He also bypassed a knot of officers who were gathered at the door of another's, though whose, he couldn't be sure of.
Johnny thumped on the door but no one answered. Worthington yelled for Potter to come out and there was another short pause during which Johnny could have sworn he heard a faint shushing sound and a soft flurry of quiet movement. "Hang on," Harry's voice sounded from behind the door.
Worthington, however, was not willing to wait. He turned the handle and finding it was not locked, opened the door. The room was dark as the lights were off, but in the faint glow of the Compound's exterior security lights, he could see Harry scrambling into his clothes, the jeans he had worn earlier, he noted, as Worthington flicked the light switch by the door.
"You could have waited for me to get dressed," Harry grumbled with annoyance. "And you didn't have to barge in like that. I told you I was coming."
"Respect, Potter," Worthington barked. "And what were you doing in the dark?"
"I was sleeping," Harry replied, and as an afterthought, it seemed, he added, "Sir."
Johnny could well believe that. In the glare of the fluorescent light, Harry's face looked drawn and tired, and his green eyes, seeming naked without his glasses, looked more brilliant than ever. His feet were bare and he had yet to put on a shirt, though one lay draped over the back of his desk chair. Perhaps it was his being half-dressed, but he seemed even younger than Johnny had thought, for one could see that though his shoulders had broadened to what was his adult width, the rest of him had yet to follow. But none of that was one's first impression - that was taken up by the wicked scar that slashed across his ribs, heart high.
Worthington was not moved by Harry's complaint or explanation. "Get moving," he said, "You’re wanted now."
"I need my glasses," Harry protested. He squinted about the room and turned away to pounce on them when Johnny said, "On the trunk." This afforded them a view of his other side, which was marked by a scar parallel to the one on the front.
Even Worthington could not but be affected. He cursed and when Harry turned back to them frowning the Lieutenant asked, "What happened to you? Where'd you get that scar?"
Peculiarly, Harry lifted his hand, not to his chest, but to the nearly invisible mark on his forehead. "This?" he asked.
"Not that," Worthington replied. "That dirty great slash on your chest. Looks like someone stuck you with the biggest knife on the market."
"It was a sword," Harry said briefly and with complete dispassion. He drew on his boots and slung his shirt on and was about to button it when Worthington recovered himself far enough to ask, "Who...?"
"Same one who gave me this," Harry answered, pointing the scar on his forehead. "Voldemort.... The Lord of Death."
Johnny was never quite sure whether the lieutenant's next response was meant as a prayer or another curse. "Why aren't you dead?" the lieutenant asked.
Harry simply shrugged and said, "What is going on anyway? Why did you wake me at midnight, Lieutenant?" Then, as though he could read the answer in the Lieutenant's face, Harry asked almost fearfully, "Is someone hurt? Ron? Hermione?"
"Not them," Worthington answered. "Let's go."
"Who?" Harry asked again. Such was his tone, that for the first time, Johnny began to understand, in a way that not even seeing those scars had told him, that his friend had been through unnamed horrors.
Worthington's face, however, hardened and he gestured for Harry to follow him.
They walked down the hall and Worthington led them through those gathered about the other door. Johnny followed in their wake, his curiosity roused and on account of an odd feeling that his friend would need protecting.
The door opened into a dorm room just like theirs. Daniels was standing in the middle of the room looking at the person on the bed. Seeing Harry, Daniels asked, "What do you know about this?"
Harry stood utterly still and his face was quite composed though all color in it had fled. "He's dead, isn't he, poor sod."
Johnny craned his head to see. It was Norway. He was lying on his back, rigid, his eyes staring at the ceiling. Something was clutched in his hand and on the floor, brown paper wrapping had fallen and a wooden box lay open, with various small crystal vials all in their places, except for one.
"How do you know he's dead?" Daniels barked. "And when did you see him last?"
Harry reached out a hand as though he would touch the man sprawled on the bed. He did not answer immediately, but simply looked at the rigid figure with a frown of concentration. He took a step nearer and would have laid a hand on the rigid face, but another voice interrupted. "What the devil are you doing mucking up the scene?"
It was Bones. "Are you professionals or what?" He stayed Harry's hand and stared at Daniels.
"I was just checking," Harry started to say, but Bones interrupted. "You're about to leave your fingerprints on him! And all of you are in here leaving traces before a tech team has been through here!"
"You can leave fingerprints on another person?" Harry asked.
"Don't you listen in class?" Bones asked. "We discussed that in the first week."
"I don't remember," Harry, answered, "I fell asleep or something."
"He hasn't explained how he knew Norway was dead or said when he saw him last," Daniels cut in.
"What makes you think he's a suspect?" Bones shot back.
Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Daniels said sharply, "He and Norway have been at loggerheads for weeks. Who else is there that had a motive?"
"That's not enough of a motive," Bones replied, "and where's your evidence?"
But Daniels ignored him and asked again, "How did you know right away that he's dead? And when did you see him last?"
"You don't have to answer," Bones said immediately.
Harry shrugged, however, and said; "I know he's dead because his soul is gone. I can tell from his eyes. And I saw him today in London, only he didn't see me."
"You saw him in London?" Daniels asked. "What were you doing there?"
"I saw him, too," Johnny cut in, "and so did Mac. And Harry didn't talk to him and nor did we."
Both Daniels and Bones stared at him. Bones turned to Harry and said, "Explain. You were supposed to be staying in and working on the assignment I gave you."
"I did the assignment," Harry said defensively. "You said I could go if I finished."
"There was enough to keep you busy all day," Bones said dangerously.
"You gave it to me last night," Harry answered. "I stayed up and did it then. It's on your desk, what you wanted."
"And what were you doing in London?" Daniels asked, "and where did you see Norway."
"We saw him at the British Museum," Harry answered. "He was meeting with Lucius Malfoy."
Bones stared at Harry. The look in his gray eyes was indescribable, composed of horror and astonishment and fury all at once. "He didn't see you, did he?"
"No," Harry answered. His voice was cool, dry, and sarcastic. "I shouldn't be here now if he had, now would I?"
"Who," Daniels asked, "is this Malfoy character?"
"He's a Death Eater," Harry answered. "One of Riddle's, the Lord of Death's inner circle," Bones added.
"Norway met with him? A terrorist?" Daniels asked.
Harry nodded and explained. That didn't seem to help matters though, as both Daniels and Bones looked angrier than before. "You set up an unauthorized surveillance?" Daniels shouted. "Were you trying to set up Norway?" Bones asked. He seemed to have forgotten that he had been defending Harry only moments before.
"Of course, not," Harry answered. "We didn't know he'd show up. And I didn't know Lucius Malfoy would show up. All we knew was the suspects from those e-mails answered and agreed to a meeting time."
"This doesn't explain how Norway ended up dead here at the Compound," Daniels said. "It doesn't explain why we have a murder on our hands now. It doesn't explain where you've been for the last hours, Potter, while Norway was being killed."
"I didn't kill him," Harry protested. "I haven't seen him since we left the museum and then we followed Hayden, you know, not Norway."
"And why didn't you follow him," Daniels shot back.
"Well, we knew where Norway had to end up," Harry replied. "It was only Hayden we had a chance of following, so we followed him. Besides..." he went on, only Daniels cut him off.
"But you were alone the whole time once you returned here, and no one can show you didn't come in here and confront Norway, can they?"
Harry shook his head mutely; only a slim figure pushed past Johnny and said angrily, "He was not alone. I was with him the whole time until you knocked."
Harry looked at Ginny Weasley and opened his mouth and then closed it. He glared at the girl and said, "You're not supposed to say anything about that!"
"You'd rather be arrested for murder," she said. The two of them glared at each other and Johnny noticed that Inspector Bones looked as though he wanted very badly to laugh all of a sudden. Potter, he thought, was in deep trouble for sure. If he wasn't arrested for murder, he was going to be disciplined or discharged for interfering with a female officer.
"He wasn't murdered," Harry said with annoyance. "He did it to himself."
"Oh, really," Daniels said. "And how do you know that? Did he confide his suicidal intentions to you? Did you read his mind? Did you see it in a crystal ball?"
Oddly, Bones and Ginny Weasley both looked terribly disconcerted by that. Harry, on the other hand, said calmly, "It's obvious, really. He took that box from Hayden and went to deliver it on Malfoy's orders; only no one was there at the pub to pick it up. So Norway brought it back here. Then he decided to give some of the stuff a try. He is - he was - obsessed with his strength and all. And he would have heard them talking about what the stuff in there can do. Only, see, the bottles were mislabeled."
Gently, Harry prised the vial from Norway's rigid fingers. A small label on the vial read, "Unicorn Blood." In the vial, the remains of a milky fluid still rested at the bottom. Harry then drew a second vial from the box. This one was contained a thick silvery fluid and was labeled, "Snake venom."
"See," Harry said, holding up the two vials. He addressed Bones particularly. "Norway heard them talking about unicorn blood, about what it could do. Only the labels were switched, and he drank the snake venom instead."
"I see," Bones said slowly. "But how was he, one of our officers, involved with them?"
"He was a double agent," Harry answered. "Hayden's man now, I think, but he must have worked for Voldemort before in one of those gangs. Because he knew which tavern to go to, he didn't need directions."
"A double agent," Daniels said. "I don't believe it. How could he get past our screening?"
Harry shrugged. "I expect the real Norway is dead. They must have made the switch after the real Norway left the army and before he started here. No one here knew him from before, did they?" There was a brief silence and then Harry said contemplatively, "I bet Bellatrix Lestrange’s will be really angry when she doesn't get the box."
This time Bones' reply was rude, unpublishable. "How do you know that?"
"Not by looking at a crystal," Harry said with a rather biting amusement. "Ginny told me where you went this morning."
He looked at Bones and Johnny was astounded when Bones looked almost embarrassed. "You should have told me," Harry said. He no longer looked amused at all. Instead, though his face was calm, his green eyes were bright with anger. "You should have told me Malfoy and the others are still out there."
"Need to know," Bones said coolly. "You know about that now. And you're old enough not to go racketing about chasing whomever you feel like."
"Need to know?" Harry echoed. "Who's got more need to know than the most likely victim?" he asked sarcastically. "Not to mention, you neglected to tell me I'm supposed to be dead. That was another clever strategy."
"What d'you mean, you're supposed to be dead?" Daniels asked.
"Ask him," Harry said, nodding at Bones.
Bones hesitated a brief moment and then replied coolly, "After Riddle died, we published it that Potter died. We didn't want the other ringleaders going after him for revenge."
"Only you didn't bother to tell me," Harry said pointedly. "No wonder you didn't let me go anywhere. I had to stay in hospital until the day we started here."
"Don't blame him," Ginny interrupted. "You should have stayed in hospital far longer than you did considering how close you came to dying."
"I should have been told," Harry insisted. "About everything. And it's three months gone by and they're still out free and joining up with Hayden and his lot."
"You didn't tell him who you are?" Ginny asked. "What if he mentions you to Malfoy? What if Norway mentioned you to Malfoy?"
"Of course, I didn't tell Hayden my real name," Harry answered. "I used my stage name, the one I used before. And Norway didn't mention me to Malfoy, I'm sure. Malfoy would have been here already looking for me if he had." He paused and added, "It's a good thing, really, that we got called back. We can use this movie to get in closer to Hayden and find out what he's up to."
"You will not!" Bones said sharply. "An undercover operation like that is too risky for new recruits. And you'll risk the possibility of Malfoy getting you in his sights."
Harry's eyes narrowed and he said silkily, "Maybe I don't care if Malfoy learns I'm alive. What the matter now is he has to be stopped. He and Hayden, they're up to something big."
"That's not your problem right now," Bones answered.
"Oh?" Harry replied. "I'm supposed to just hang around and do nothing whilst they increase their numbers and try to bring Voldemort back?"
"This is loony," Daniels said. "I thought you said this Lord of Death guy is dead, Bones. What kind of crap is this, bringing a dead man back?"
"He is dead," Bones said calmly. He turned to Harry and said firmly, "And yes, you are supposed to do nothing. You are here and under orders. And your orders are to stay here and complete your training. And you are not to go haring off and playing undercover actor or go out looking for Malfoy on your own."
Harry clearly did not like that. His face tightened and he said, "I want to talk to Dumbledore. This is important."
"Write him a letter," Bones said. "No, scratch that," he said after a second. "You'll just have to be patient. I will look into this." Apparently sensing Harry's incipient rebellion, he added more gently, "Look, Potter. No one doubts your courage or desire to help. But sometimes, it takes more courage to wait and do the sensible thing. You're a man in a man's job and you have to act like one; not like a schoolboy racketing off as the mood seizes him."
"I'll be patient for a little while longer," Harry growled at last. "But I can tell you this, Inspector. I've also learned that being too careful can let the other side have time to work to their advantage, and time to do more harm, and time to kill."
"Seeing as it's you they'd want to kill," Bones responded, "a little care on your part would be advisable."
Harry breathed in visibly and his face took on a remote look. "I'm not afraid of dying," he said quietly. "Death, you know, isn't bad. It's just, once you're dead, there's things you can't do, like fall in love, and get married, have kids, grow old." He looked at Norway lying on the bed. "That's what's sad about poor Norway, there. He'll never get a chance now to change."
Everyone went still at Harry's last words and Johnny could not help feeling pity for the dead man. But it was Harry's words about death that raised goose bumps on his arms and the look on Ginny's face, as though she had lost something and won it back at great cost, which gave him pause.
Then Daniels' voice came, harsh and cold after a gentle calm, "He'll never get to tell us his side of things, now either. And now you've gone and touched those vials, we'll never know if you handled them before, will we?" He looked from Bones to Harry and continued, "I'd like to know how a kid knows about this unicorn blood stuff. And what is it, some new drug? And how come I've never heard of it?"
"It's not a drug, exactly," Bones answered. He seemed to hesitate minutely before continuing. "It's rather rare, you know, like some of those Chinese herbs people swear by."
“And that killed Norway?” Daniels asked.
"Apparently not," Bones answered. "It seems he took snake venom instead. The autopsy will show that, I expect." He frowned and added, "Your suspicions of Potter are misplaced, too. He needn't have let you know that he recognized what was in those. He didn't have to say anything. And if he says he saw Norway meet with one of Riddle's men, he did. We should focus on how badly our security has been breached by Norway's actions. That's our real problem now."
"If this story is true," Daniels said.
"It is," Johnny cut in. Daniels glared at him, but he went on. "Mac and I also saw Norway meet with Eric Hayden and this other man. And Hayden is known to have been associated with the Anglo Aryan Alliance. And we all saw that Hayden is making this film that looks more like a vehicle of propaganda about Anglo Saxon superiority than what it's supposed to be about."
"It's no wonder he hasn't shown the Director the script," Harry said. "I bet he figures Ken and Annie'll back out if they know what he’s really up to."
"Hayden's supposed to have dropped out of the Alliance," Daniels responded. But he had lost his earlier hostility and appeared to be thinking. Both Johnny and Harry started to speak, but Bones hushed them with a quick gesture.
"Right," Daniels said after a moment. "We've been hearing a few rumors about the Alliance from other sources. I want you Potter, and Carter and MacCready to meet with me and Inspector Bones and Major Halsey at eight sharp tomorrow morning. I want a full report about this, everything that you know and how you know it. And Inspector, I'd appreciate it if you’d coordinate with forensics on dealing with Norway’s body and the search of his room." He paused and then gave Harry a ferocious glare, "And we'll have to consider what the appropriate discipline is for you, for having a female officer in your room after curfew."
"He shouldn't be disciplined," Ginny protested. "It wasn't after curfew."
"It's against the regulations," Daniels responded.
"We're engaged to be married,” Ginny answered, "so I think it's none of your business what we do off duty."
"Is that true?" Bones and Daniels asked at the same time.
Harry stepped forward and laid a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Yeah, it is," he said almost defiantly. But the remote look had gone from his eyes, and his face relaxed, softened with joy, so that Johnny stared at the transformation. He could not recall that Harry had ever looked positively happy before.
"Relationships between fellow officers are highly discouraged," Daniels said. Bones, however, had a different question. "Does your Mum know?" he asked Ginny, "Or your Dad?"
"Not yet," Ginny answered. Peculiarly, Bones seemed to be more concerned about that than he had been about anything else, including the existence of a double agent in their midst. He breathed out with visible relief when Ginny added, "But it's all right. Mum knows about us already."
She and Harry started to leave the room when another voice interrupted. "What does Mum already know about? And what's going on here, anyway?"
"Mum knows about Harry and me," Ginny answered Ron. "And Norway's dead."
"You and Harry?" Ron asked, "Mum knows?" Almost at the same time, Hermione pushed through and said, "That's not the real Norway, you know."
"How do you know that?" Harry asked. "How does she always know everything?" he asked Ron. Ginny giggled and Daniels rolled his eyes and threw his hands up as though he were praying. "When did I lose control here?" He glared at Hermione and said, "How do you know that? Were you in on this unauthorized surveillance, too?"
Instead of answering Daniels, Hermione gave Harry the sort of look that Johnny's strictest and scariest teacher had always favored him with, and said severely, "Can't you ever stay out of trouble?"
"Oh, that's nice," Harry, answered. "I wasn't looking for trouble. And anyway, you never mind so long as you get to be included. And how do you know about Norway?"
Hermione bit her lip and said, "Well, you said he lied about things. It made me wonder why he was lying. So I looked up his information in the computer."
"Let me get this straight," Daniels, said. He seemed to be holding on to his temper with enormous effort. "Potter told you he thought Norway lied about something, so you broke into our secure records of an officer’s past and found ... What?"
Hermione flushed pink but held her ground before the Lieutenant's questions. "Harry didn't think Norway lied, he knew. And it wasn't hard to get into the information. I just used the procedures we learnt in class."
"And then?" Daniels asked. Johnny was surprised he hadn't jumped again on her remark about Harry knowing. It was weird, the thought, that they all, Bones and Hermione and Ron and Ginny insisted that no matter what Harry said, it must be so.
Hermione coughed a little and glanced at Ron. "Well, we went to his home address, the one listed in his information, but the landlady said he hadn't been there for four months. Then we went to his mother's address-- that was his emergency contact. And she said she hasn't heard from him in four months either. And we asked her for a picture of him and it's not the same person. They're similar in size and weight, but they're not the same. So the real Norway went missing almost a month before we started here."
"Now that was brilliant," Harry said.
