Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 195: A Father Concerns
One Month Later, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes.
Fleamont Potter was quietly finishing writing a report in his office when he heard a loud knock at the door. Letting out an audible sigh, he told the person on the other side to come in.
"Cooper, can't you be a bit more delicate when you knock on my door?" Fleamont glared at the other man.
This one was a six-foot-five-tall man with a shaven head and strong physique. Just looking at his brawny arms was enough to know that he could have shattered the door into pieces if he wasn't careful with what he was doing.
His name was Oliver Cooper, and it's been a year since he had been working as a liaison between his department and the Auror one.
Oliver stared at his closed fist for a moment. He had been controlling himself quite a bit, but apparently it hadn't been enough. "My apologies, Mister Potter. I'm still getting used to working off the field." The man unconsciously brought a hand to his prosthetic leg.
"It's been a year already…" Fleamont felt a bit sorry for the man. It was obvious that he had been made for action, and working in an office job was taking a toll on him. But his leg had been hit with a corrosive curse that made it impossible to regenerate, leaving him unqualified for field work until he could prove that he could still perform while using his fake leg. Something that he hadn't been able to do for now.
"Anyway… what brought you to my office?"
"Right." Cooper closed the door behind him and approached Fleamont's desk while carrying a small stack of papers. "I've been digging into the incident from a month ago at Hogsmeade, and I found something that you will want to know."
Fleamont noticed how grave the other man's expression had become. It was something he didn't see often.
"The Hogsmeade incident…" This brought him back to that day.
That incident was a complete mess. The resulting conflict was flashy enough to be seen from the closest muggle towns, even though they were hundreds of miles away from the magical village. His department received an urgent call for a mass Obliviation in those towns.
Otherwise, the muggle government would have gotten involved to investigate the cause of this phenomenon and could have found the existence of Hogsmeade.
However, once everything was placed under control, Fleamont wanted to know about the ones responsible for this huge mess. He had been more than shocked when he discovered that the one who caused the magical phenomenon was none other than his own son, James, and that he did so while fighting a dark witch who was trying to kill him and some other students.
Unfortunately for him, the moment he tried to dig a bit deeper and tried to find more details about the event, he was continually blocked by classified documents.
Fleamont eventually gave up on getting anything from the Ministry, thinking that he would have his answers the next time he saw his son, once Hogwarts classes were over and he returned home.
"So, what did you find?" Fleamont asked as the agent placed the papers on his table.
"It was not easy, I'll tell you that. Normally, this type of incident would not be that protected, even if it involved a student. I think someone with a lot of connections was trying to bury these files." Cooper said.
This made Fleamont uneasy. He didn't like to have his son mixed in something like this.
His eyes moved to the papers. "They found the identity of the witch…"
"Yeah. She sounds like a piece of work, I'll tell you that." The Auror commented while recalling what the files said about her.
"Morrigan Lacroix. Dark witch who terrorized France during the 16th and 17th centuries. She disappeared around 1690 and was considered deceased."
"They probably thought she had died in some witch hunt and was never properly registered. Although considering her age, she could also have died of natural causes anyway." Cooper added.
"Are they sure it's the same person? This would make her around four hundred years old." Fleamont said.
Cooper nodded. "We have records of even older wizardfolk, so it's not unprecedented. Besides, they found all the evidence in that antique shop of hers. Apparently, she had kept a diary detailing everything that she had been up to...even the rituals she had used to keep herself alive. But I couldn't get hold of those… I have no idea where the Ministry is keeping them."
"That's concerning on its own…" Fleamont said. He didn't like the idea of that kind of magic falling into the wrong hands. "They should have destroyed everything. That kind of dark magic should not exist…"
"We can agree on that." Cooper pointed at the next page. "There is something else I wanted to mention. The report indicates that the Auror in charge of the investigation took a sample of your son's memories involving the incident."
"What?! Isn't it already bad enough that they interrogated my son without my presence?" Fleamont looked outraged.
"Apparently, the Headmaster was present during the proceedings, so it wasn't against any rules."
"Albus… I'm going to have a talk with him very soon." Fleamont promised.
"Just remember that I didn't give you those papers. I could get into a lot of trouble for this." Cooper said.
"I know that, don't worry about it," Fleamont reassured before turning his attention back to the papers and finishing reading them. All the notes that the Auror took had been written in there. "What did that witch want from my son? It's not very specific on that point."
"According to the testimony, she claimed that your son took something that belonged to her and she wanted it back. But we don't know what it was."
"My son is no thief!" Fleamont exclaimed.
"And no one thinks that way either." Cooper tried to placate the older man. "Otherwise they would have pushed harder on that information. The witch had probably gone insane after being around for so long. Magical rituals that extend life usually come with the cost of mental sanity. At least that's what my professor at the academy used to say."
"Thank you for bringing me this. I really appreciate it." Fleamont said.
"Yeah… there is one more thing I wanted to tell you." Cooper made a complicated expression.
"What is it?"
"It's about those memories they took from James Potter. They should have been stored in containment area number 3, just like it states in the papers, but when I went to check… There was only a blank vial."
Fleamont frowned. "Are you saying that someone stole those memories?"
Cooper nodded. "And that's not easy. The containers are protected, so they can't be removed without proper authorization. It had to be someone from the department."
Fleamont had a bad feeling about this. Who could be so interested in taking those memories, and why?
"I want to know who is the one who is so interested in my son… and what do they want."
Cooper nodded. "I will keep my eyes open and tell you if I find a—"
A loud knock was heard on the door, interrupting what he was going to say.
Fleamont hurried to take the papers off the table and hid them inside a drawer.
"Come in."
"Sir!" An alarmed woman waltzed inside the office and didn't even take a moment to glance at Agent Cooper. "We have an emergency!"
Fleamont was shocked to see his assistant so alarmed. "What's going on?"
"Some masked men have launched a large-scale attack on Diagon Alley!"
A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.
You can Support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters. You can also find characters images to view for free in Collections/Invincible Stage Images
-/Kriogenix
For donations and commissions, go to ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ N0veI.Fiɾ