"That's a lot of names," Fred said, echoing Harry's own thoughts at the moment. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"
"What was the point of telling you?" she asked in return. "It's the same reason we had not to tell Harry when he arrived. We thought the land and lease had been sold years ago when the goblin we paid rent to changed, we didn't think anything shifty was going on. Saying, 'Oh, Hello, Harry, we used to rent this land from your family,' would have made things awkward."
Harry heard the fireplace roar to life but he only had eyes for Mrs. Weasley.
"So I'm your landlord," Harry said, trying to wrap his head around the situation. "But I'm also your tenant?"
It was a gruff voice that answered him.
"Law gets kinda funny, don't it?"
Harry looked up to see his litigator brushing soot off his clothes with a grin.
"Lichfeld?" Molly Weasley asked curiously as if trying to place the face to a name.
"Close," the old bailiff said. "It's -field, not -feld. Looks like you got those kids you wanted."
"You know Lichfield?" an astonished Harry asked.
"Of course we know him," Molly said. "He used to pick up our rent from time to time and gave us a nice long extension on our lease."
"Hang on," Harry said, turning to Lichfield. "You said you thought you knew the Weasleys."
"I did think I knew them," the litigator said. "I knew I knew them. It's a kind of thinking."
"You could have told me, and you could've gotten here earlier, you know," Harry said. "Dumbledore came by and tried to take me with him."
"Sorry," Lichfield said. "But I thought it was more important that everything was done as soon as possible so him taking you would've been illegal. Besides, I didn't think you needed your nappy changed. I would've been here sooner but I had to calm a panicked Overseer."
"What happened?" Harry asked concerned.
"Dumbledore made an odd move and Barchoke thought he was going to curse him in the middle of the lobby," the old bailiff explained. "Probably thought he was going to go out the same way his father did. Damn!" Lichfield said when he caught what he said.
"Hammerhand is-"
"Don't you dare tell him I said that, got it?" Lichfield said with a look.
"Got it," Harry said with his hands up. "So," he said to Mrs. Weasley, "when I mentioned Gropegold-"
"-I knew then the land had never been sold off," she answered quickly.
"It couldn't be," Lichfield interjected.
"-And with Albus acting as guardian-," she continued.
"What do you mean it'd never been sold?" her husband asked. "I thought for sure that-"
"Albus was going to have that-that goblin kick us out as soon as our lease was up," Mrs. Weasley said, again with a full head of steam. "He stood right in our house and admitted it. I never would have thought he'd attack the other goblin though; he was very professional."
Mr. Weasley looked shocked.
"He attacked him?" Lichfield asked. "He admitted it?"
"He said he tried to persuade him," Harry answered.
"How the hell did you get him to say that?" the litigator asked.
"I just said I knew what he'd done," Harry shrugged.
"No you didn't," Percy said. It was the first time he'd spoken for a while.
"Sorry?" Harry said.
"You said you saw it," Percy explained.
"Well, it's what I meant," Harry said. "Does it make a difference?"
"Oh, yes," Lichfield said. "Because there are ways you can actually see the past. In memories. If he thought you'd seen Hammerhand's memory of the event he would have wanted to put his own spin on what you saw. Might actually mean there's something there to look for."
"You're really going after him, aren't you?" Mr. Weasley asked. "Dumbledore, I mean."
"Absolutely," Lichfield said. "Speaking of which, I'm going to need a statement and memory from everyone here who saw that exchange, and your permission for it for those kids who saw it."
Mrs. Weasley looked to Harry, then nodded.
"Mipsy!" Lichfield called, bringing the little elf pop! -ing back.
"Yes, Mister Lichy, sir?" she asked.
"Go to my office. I need Truth Quills, vials, legal vellum, and two Underage Witness Forms," Lichfield said to the elf before she disappeared with a big grin. "I may just have to make her my legal secretary," he said to Harry. "She's come in quite handy today."
In moments Mipsy was back with a load of stuff in her arms. Harry helped her put it on the table so it wouldn't spill out all over the place as Lichfield slid the forms over to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. It took several minutes and some precise spell casting and labeling by Lichfield before the four somewhat smoky vials full of memories found their way into his pocket.
Harry didn't think he wanted any more Memory Extractions performed for a while; the side of his head felt decidedly numb and it felt odd to blink. Mrs. Weasley sent Fred and Percy off to find something to do, completely forgetting what she had wanted to know from Fred in the first place.
Harry remembered something he had wanted to give Lichfield and had forgotten in his letter. Telling him to wait there, he ran up to his room to put back his Blood Quill and retrieve the other odd Boy-Who-Lived book he'd gotten from Ginny.
If he had found it odd, Lichfield had looked at him like he was crazy. The old bailiff took it anyway though, saying he'd check it out.
As the Litigator rose to leave, Harry remembered something else to talk to him about.
'When did my life get so complicated?' he asked himself.
"Did you find Dobby?"
"Oh, right," Lichfield said, as if he had forgotten as well. "I found him. Negotiations are done, we just need a time to finalize the exchange."
"We're planning on visiting Diagon Alley on Wednesday, if that's what you mean," Harry said.
"Wednesday works," Lichfield said with a nod. "I'll tell them and be on the lookout for you. Did we have anything else?" he asked as if mentally reviewing things himself.
"I don't think so," Harry said. Maybe he should start carrying around a list.
.....
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