Chapter 101: Outcomes
"So, what did we find out?"
I looked at Bella, who was sitting across from me in the study. I had reluctantly asked the girls to leave, but they were intelligent, and they understood that until they were formally part of the family, there were certain matters I could not discuss in front of them.
"What did we find out... someone forced our merchant to sell us that particular stock. He doesn't know who, only that his wife and daughter had been taken. He had no choice but to comply, the poor wretch. There's no trail to follow from his end. The one thing I can tell you is that in his memories, the individuals were dressed as Death Eaters."
I shook my head.
"That tells us very little."
"I know."
Bella waved it off.
"Beyond the families who are still at large and who were part of the Dark Lord's inner circle, anyone might have dressed up as a Death Eater specifically to put us on a false trail."
"Well..."
Cissy tapped a thoughtful finger against the tip of her nose.
"...I think I have something more encouraging."
"Do you indeed?"
Bella looked interested, and I turned to my mother with an expression somewhere between surprise and skepticism.
"Yes. Though the information..."
She shook her head.
"...under ordinary circumstances, a poison like this would take a very long time to analyze. But, well, you both know that back when I was still married to Lucius, I was expected to be a dutiful wife who stayed at home. And so I spent a great deal of time in the library, reading, including certain texts his family had once obtained from the Crabbes and the Goyles. When we began identifying the first components of the poison, I suddenly remembered a very rare compound used by the Crabbe family, and I simply started cross-checking for its specific ingredients. It is always faster to verify a known ingredient than to identify something from nothing."
"You're saying this is the Crabbes?"
"At least the poison is their work, from an era when they hadn't yet begun to decline."
"They haven't got the brains for it now."
Bella shook her head.
Agreed. Even if the fathers are twice as clever as the sons, they're still not particularly bright. They might organize a raid, hire some ruffians, attack the district, but a sophisticated poisoning? That's beyond them.
I stared thoughtfully at the ceiling.
Even so, they need to be questioned. At length.
Bella began to rise from her chair, but I stopped her.
"Wait."
"What?"
"Something about this feels wrong."
"You think it's a trap?"
"No."
I shook my head.
"It would be nearly impossible to predict that I'd stumble across the poison by accident, and whoever planted it was clever. They covered their tracks well. You found nothing, Bella."
"And?"
"The chances of Cissy recognizing the specific poison were virtually zero. That means that right now, we hold a few cards our enemy doesn't know about. But the moment we move on the Crabbes, whoever is actually behind this—and they almost certainly used the Crabbes—will simply disappear."
"So what are you proposing?"
"I think it's time to put our new reconnaissance units to the test, the ones we formed specifically for this purpose. Send them to the Crabbe estates and the Goyle estates while we're at it. A full reconnaissance operation. They gather intelligence and report back. In the meantime, we tighten controls on everything entering the district from outside."
"We'd have to search everyone coming in and out. We can't sustain that level of scrutiny."
"We don't need to use magic for everyone. The wall is nearly finished. We put werewolves at the checkpoints and have them scent anything that seems suspicious. In any case, they're almost certainly not going to try again immediately. Whoever is behind this will understand, or will shortly understand, that our readiness level has just gone up considerably. So..."
There's something to that. Even so, I'm putting us on heightened alert.
Bella tapped her fingers thoughtfully on the desktop.
"No objection from me. Let everyone be prepared."
Bella nodded and sent a Patronus, then looked at me.
"Right. I'll be going then."
She stretched.
"...I need at least a few hours' sleep today."
"Off you go, Mum. Cissy's going to sleep now too, aren't you, Mum?"
I looked at my other mother inquiringly, and she nodded.
"Yes. I need rest as well. And so do you..."
"I still have things..."
I barely registered Bella's wand coming up, and then there was darkness.
***
***Some time later***
I came back to myself, or rather woke up, in my own bed. The first thing I did was punch the mattress, because it stung to acknowledge how far beyond me Bella's speed was. Though in truth, I was simply outmatched by wizards like her and Cissy in general. But there was time yet.
I sighed, threw back the covers, and noticed I had been undressed, most likely by a house-elf, who had also folded my clothes neatly over the nearby chair, which I saw the moment I turned my head.
"Right. Up we get. Kreacher."
The house-elf appeared at my call.
"Prepare me a light breakfast."
"It shall be done."
Kreacher swept the floor with his ears and vanished. I dressed quickly and made my way to the dining room, since the clock told me I had already lost part of the morning's scheduled work. At least I hadn't been late to Hogwarts—the Founders might have had something to say about that.
"You're awake."
Bella came into the dining room as I was finishing my breakfast.
"Yes."
She looked at me carefully, and I couldn't quite make out what she was searching for, but I could tell it mattered to her.
"Mum?"
"No, nothing."
"Mum, come on. What is it?"
"Are you cross with me?"
"About... oh."
I smiled when I understood what she was asking.
"No. Don't worry. What bothered me was barely being able to follow the movement of your wand, let alone do anything about it. Being reminded of just how much I still lack was a little deflating. But cross with you? No. You're my mum, and you were looking after me. I was honestly surprised you only used a Sleeping Charm rather than just clouting me over the back of the head."
"Ha, the thought did cross my mind, if I'm honest. But the wand was quicker."
I gave a knowing smile.
"Right, I'm leaving everything with you and Mum-Cissy for now. I'm off to Hogwarts. There's a great deal waiting for me there."
"Go on, then. Don't worry, we'll handle things here."
I wished her luck and stepped through the Floo into Flitwick's office, then hurried off to see to my duties. There was still a great deal to accomplish before the summer was out. All the teachers were currently working, even Dumbledore, and we were collectively restoring and reinforcing enchantments throughout the castle. I was also preparing what I hoped would be ready by summer's end: constructing, from the imprints of personality and soul bound to the portraits, a new generation of ghosts capable of moving freely throughout the school.
"You're late."
I gave Salazar a faint smile as he greeted me in the Great Hall with those particular words.
"My apologies. Sleepless night."
"We have no interest in the details."
Candida's expression was delicately disgusted.
"Oh, come off it. The lad had his first romantic encounter and he's bursting to tell someone!"
Godric gave a faintly vulgar grin.
"If by romantic encounter you mean drafting security protocols for my district to prevent further poisoned food deliveries, then yes, you are quite right."
"Poisoned?"
Dumbledore's brow furrowed.
"Yes. Our supplier was coerced into selling us contaminated stock. Fortunately I noticed some suspicious notations in the delivery report, otherwise the consignment would have found its way into circulation within a week, and then..."
I let that hang.
"Do you know who is responsible?"
"Not yet."
I pressed my lips together and shook my head.
"We've only established that those involved were either former Death Eaters or individuals disguised as them. We couldn't get any further than that, though at least the merchant hadn't fled yet, so we recovered our money from him."
"I see."
Dumbledore was grave.
"You haven't yet secured your food supply? How was that allowed to happen?"
Helga looked at me with a trace of reproach.
"You can't accomplish everything at once. We will be self-sufficient before long, and in all likelihood become a food supplier ourselves. But until then, we do still have to buy in. From multiple suppliers, going forward."
"That is precisely what you should have done from the beginning."
Salazar shook his head disapprovingly.
"...putting everything in one basket was a mistake."
"Agreed."
I nodded.
"But doing everything correctly from the very start is not always possible in our situation. We thought we would not be dependent on outside supplies for long, and we didn't imagine anyone had sufficient cause to want to harm us yet."
"All right, get to work."
Salazar dismissed me with a wave.
"...your district's problems can wait until later."
That was my plan.
I nodded and began my work in earnest.
Only that evening did I make it home, and I sank into an armchair. Fleur and Penny settled beside me almost immediately.
"How are you?"
"Tired. Very tired. There is more and more to do and less and less time. Honestly, I've started to look forward to going back to Hogwarts, because at least then a portion of my responsibilities will be lifted from my shoulders."
"You could share some of the work with us now, you know."
Cissy came into the room and took the armchair across from me.
"I could."
I nodded.
"But what kind of future head of House and district would I be if I kept handing everything over to others? How would I ever understand the full scope of what is being done here?"
"Well...
She shrugged.
"...we'll help. And once Penny and Fleur become part of the family, they'll help too."
"Of course we will."
Fleur and Penny said it at the same time.
"You see.
Cissy looked at me with quiet affection.
"So just..."
"No, Mum."
I shook my head.
"I can't do it that way. I know that once circumstances take me back to Hogwarts, I won't be able to be as involved in the district's affairs. When that time comes, it will all be in your hands. But for now, for now, I'll simply try to get to sleep a little earlier. I hope Penny and Fleur won't mind that we'll have slightly less time together."
"Oh, please.
Cissy gave me a fond exasperated look.
"We all know they sleep in your room. You won't be spending any less time together."
I gave a barely audible snort.
"Right, yes. We sleep together. But that's not exactly the same as spending time together."
"Draco, we all understand."
Fleur placed her hand on my shoulder.
"We do. Right now you have no time, and Fleur and I don't either, honestly, even if we're not the central figures in your projects. The training we're doing so that we can be useful to you one day is rather intensive."
Penny placed her hand on my other shoulder.
"And don't forget, this year I'll be at Hogwarts too. We'll have time to be together properly."
"That's true."
I smiled at Fleur, then at Penny, pressed a kiss to each of their cheeks, and finally went to bed. The day had been far too long for anything else.
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