𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐇

Chapter 54

Harry took a deep breath, then activated the key.

A moment later he was standing in the middle of the infirmary, yelling for Madam Pomfrey to help him.

************

Several hours later, after being turfed unceremoniously from the infirmary, Harry still paced back and forth in the corridor outside the closed doors, wishing that he knew what was going on in there. Hexam had turned up shortly after his own arrival and gone inside. Harry had not seen him since.

But eventually the door opened and the auror walked out, looking tired but happy. Harry whirled around and stared at him. Seeing the look on his face, he let his shoulders climb down from around his chin and relaxed his tense muscles for the first time in hours.

“How is he?”

“Sleeping. Come, Harry. We need to talk.” Hexam took Harry by the arm and led him to an ante-room. Once there, he summoned a house elf and asked it for some tea and sandwiches, then he seated himself and leaned forward, his pale eyes, so like those of Draco’s father, boring into Harry’s own.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help,” he said at last. “Tubbs managed to creep up on me. I’ve been trapped in some tiny room or other for Merlin knows how long. It took me forever to get free and find you.”

“You knew?” Harry accused him. “You knew about Tubbs?”

“I suspected him of other things – theft and the like. This... I had no clue. As soon as I was told he was a squib, I took my eyes off him, and, to be honest, it wasn’t my main concern. I allowed my main duty to overshadow other things that were happening.”

“You main duty?” Harry was taken aback.

“Watching Draco,” Hexam admitted. “You know he’s under probation? Minister Shacklebolt doesn’t entirely trust Malfoy and assigned me to keep an eye on him.”

Harry leapt to his feet, just as the house elf reappeared with a tray full of tea things and a plate piled high with sandwiches. The creature shrieked, dropped the tray and disappeared out of sheer fright.

“Shit!” Hexam cast several spells and the teapot leapt back together, the plate reassembled itself, but the sandwiches and tea were beyond anything either of them could do. Hexam sighed. “Looks like we’re not getting anything to eat or drink after all,” he said “Ah well. Fasting is good for the soul. What was I saying?”

“About how Shacklebolt doesn’t trust Draco. I vouched for him. I told Kingsley that he helped.” Harry raged.

“I know that. But, despite his actions during the war, he is not trusted. The Wizengamot hold the view that once one is a Death Eater, one is always a Death Eater – it saves time in the end. After all, my esteemed half-brother swore blind that he had been imperiused and no longer served Voldemort. We all know how that turned out, don’t we?”

“So you were here to keep an eye on Draco... so what about all that searching our rooms and getting potions from Slughorn and trying to meet with Draco, not to mention trying to get into my head. You know I suspected you, don’t you?”

“I’m aware of it, yes. The Headmistress made sure I knew. Nice obliviate by the way. Beautifully done.”

“Draco did it,” Harry said dully, falling back into his chair. “What about the rest of it?”

“As I think the Headmistress explained to you, it’s sometimes easier to ask a potions master to make the potions I need rather than buy them at an apothecary. They’re completely legal,, and often used by aurors. I was merely angry because he had taken my money and not yet made the potions.”

“So what about searching my room?”

“The other part of my assignment was to find that blasted book. I knew it existed and traced it here. Eventually I worked out that you had it. Unfortunately I left my notes on my desk when I left my office momentarily. It was then that Tubbs must have found the information and decided to use it – it was the only time I left those notes around and not under several spells.”

“What was he doing in your office?”

Hexam grinned and Harry realised that if Lucius had been a nicer person, he too would have the same disarming grin  and so would Draco. Harry regretted that Draco rarely smiled, and now would smile even less. He had so little to smile about.

“Well – it’s the reason why I left my office so hurriedly in the first place. Since the war and all the damage done to Hogwarts, things have a habit of... going a bit strange around here. I was sitting at my desk and suddenly a phantom fissure opened up right behind me. I don’t know if you know anything about them, but they’re usually lethal to us magical folk. Tubbs, as a squib, could deal with it. I got out of there and sent him in to do what he could.

“That’s what I don’t understand. If Tubbs was a squib, how come he could use the Elder wand, and how come he managed to mind-bind Draco?”

“As I said earlier, Harry, he had enough magic in him – it would take vast concentration and an extremely strong focus to activate it. When he knocked me on the head, he actually did it with a huge chunk of crystal – the same crystal he used to focus his magic. For the mind-bind, I assume he lured Draco into his office on some pretext. A normal wand would not be enough for him. A phantom fissure wouldn’t detect it, but the Elder wand – the most powerful wand known to us, is attuned to even the slightest spark. You know what a wizard’s wand is and does. The wand merely magnified tenfold what little magic Tubbs had, when normally, that huge resonating crystal did the job for him – not exactly portable though – no wonder he was after the wand. The ring and the cloak were just bonuses.”

Hexam smiled suddenly and clapped Harry on the shoulder. “Of course, you realise what that little fight in the forest means, don’t you?”

Baffled, Harry shook his head.

“It means that, once more, Draco Malfoy is the master of the Elder wand.”